
Class r tJ-^ Z 



JO 



Gpiglrtl^'? 



COPYRKJIW Dt.'HjSir. 



YAZOO; 



OR, ON THE 



PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM 



IN THE SOUTH. 



A PERSONAL NARRATIVE. 



A. T. MORGAN, 



LATE SHERIFF A^•D TAX-COLLECTOR, YAZOO COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI. 






"WASHINGTON, D. C. 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 

188'4. 



CENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1884, 

By A. T. MORGAN, 

SIN .THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON. 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 






J^ress of Rufus.H. Darby, 



PREFACE. ^ 



"And they east the man into the sepulchre of Elisha ; and when 
the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, 
and stood upon his feet."— iJiiiiigs, xiii: 21. 



In these pages the reader will find faithfully set out a sim- 
ple and truthful narrative of the principal incidents and 
events in the puhlic and private life of the author daring his 
residence in Yazoo County, Mississippi, together with occa- 
sional pictures illustrative of the social condition of the 
people of that State. The characters are -real persons, 
whose true names are given only in cases where it was 
found impossible to disguise their identity. The conversa- 
tions quoted, of course, are not verbatim. They are, never- 
theless, strictly within the line of truth. 

Both in gathering the material and preparing it for the 
public, the author has encountered certain obstacles which 
many never will be able adequately to appreciate, because it 
will be impossible for them to stand in his place. Nothmg 
is asked or expected, however, more than an honest judg- 
ment upon his motive and his work. 



TO THE MEMORY 
OF THOSE MEN AND WOMEN 
WHO HAVE DIED ON SLAVERY'S STUBBLE-GROUND 
IN THE WAR FOR SELF- 
PRESERVATION. 



Errata. 

On page 115, line 18 from top, read thirty in place of ninety. 
On page 359, in fourth line from top, read Elisha's in place of 
Elijah's. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Chapter I. 

The war is over— Southward ho !— A wonderful country 17 

Chapter II. 

First lessons — Colonel J. J. U. Black as teacher 29 

Chapter III. 

A first day with the freedmen of Tazoo— What was accom- 
plished by the war 38 

Chapter IV. 
Jealous " Johnny Rebs "—Colonel J. J. U. Black in a new role... 45 

Chapter V. 
A " nigro " insurrection and a fool's errand 53 

Chapter VI. 
An unsettled question— The diplomacy of babes 68 

Charter VII. 

Colonel Black's library— A new departure— Tokeba's jail— More 
diplomacy— A Southerner's instincts 72 

Chapter VIII. 

Charles' return— Reminiscences— Smoky Tokeba— AVhisky as a 
medicine 80 

Chapter IX. 

Blushes— More of the ways of the country— A deeper deep than 
Mormonism 85 

Chapter X. 

A deeper deep— The wolf shows his teeth 90 

Chapter XI. 

Lambs— "I'm a gentleman, by G-d, sir"— A new function for 
Nasby 97 

Chapter XII. 

A council of lambs— That "nigger school"— '* Old Morgan"— 
"Tolecat Morgan" 102 



10 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Chapter XIII. 

Taffy, women aiod wine vs. the army of the United States— The 
straw that broke our camePsback — A stalwart friend 107 

Chapter XIV. 

Yazoo justice in 1867— Ten dollars and a " lick " for a year's hard 
work— Was it in self-defense ?— Questions remaining unsettled 
to this day— O'oophie— Polecat 114 

Chapter XV. 

Army worms and other worms— Our stalwart friend lassoed— 
Another kind of fool's errand— How to get "rid"a the d— n . 
Yankees "—Hurrah for Colonel J. J. U. Black— Was Colonel 
Black ''agent in fact'?" 122 

Chapter XVI. 

Kecollections— An Appomattox "straw "—Charles' " new idea " 
—Shall we surrender, run away, or fight it out on tliat line- 
Weighty reasons whythe battle should continue 129 

Chapter XVII. 

Charles' twenty millions gone glimmering— Sweet consolation — 
Fame, and how to win it in Yazoo— True friends 134 

Chapter XVIII. 
A second day among the freed people in Yazoo— When, where, 
how and why I became a •' dictator " — An election in Yazoo 
when " only niggers" vote 140 

Chapter XIX. 
The folly of wisdom— Courage of my new frien'^'s— A t-iumphant 
'•vindication"— An "honest" differei ce of opinion— Unheeded 
warnings 151 

Chapter XX. 
Delivei'er and dictator— Counting the cost— Les Miserables— 
Straw for bricks 156 

Chapter XXI. 
The true value of friendship— Xone but black Americans on guard 
to-nis^ht— An uncovered secret— "Snake*," and their uses 167 

Chapter XXII. 
Wheat among tares— A human hornet — A. "new-comer" of the 
right sort tor Yazoo -How " our friends up North " furnished 
powder for " we all " down South to burn under the noses of 
brave ex-Union soldiers— A "nest of vipers " 176 

Chapter XXIII. 
€harles has a new experience— A slight indiscretion and a trial- 
Courageous General Greenleaf, and true friends— More straw 
for bricks 181 

Chapter XXIV. 
At last —A murderer's cell !— That Yazoo jail in 1868- WhatMr. 
Barksdale did— The good Samaritan — Uncle Jonathan sees the 
kuklux— The wicked flee wlien none pursue 188 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 1 

Chapter XXV. 

Boj'S, why don't you get away fr m there !— Letters from the old 
home— Cliarles' fever— Never say die ! 195 

Chapter XXVI. 

A presence — A tempi ■^ of the living God even in Yazoo— A jail- 
bird's •' shell "—High resolves. 200 

Chapter XXVII. 

A general election in Yazoo — W. H. Foote i-j?. the " human hor- 
net "—No lives lost 204 

Chapter XX VII I. 

Do Southerners have prejudice agiinst color— Two more bricks— 
An apology 210 

Chapter XXIX 

*' How are yew, Morgin V"— Defeated but not east down— Timely 
succor— " grand old flag"— It is over— A searching of hearts.... 214 

Chapter XXX. 

A '• Democratic school " and what came of it— Slight differences 
of opinion 218 

Chapter XXXI. 

Some other things about the flag of the United States in 1868, in 
Yazoo, Mississippi— Staring at vacancy— A discovery that was 
not patented— How, Miiy and when ■' tt e South solidified." 222 

Chapter XXXII. 

The war of the badges— Heroic colored women— How Mlssissip- 
pians voted as they fought in 1868— More bricks 230 

Chapter XXXIII. 

Reasons for tlie'r faith— Certain citiz- ns object to the racket of the 
K. K. K.'s and afterward apologize— Deliverance — Hurrah for 
Grant ! Hurrah for h— 1 !— '"Bottom rail on top " — Uncle Peter's 
wisdom— Magnanimity of freedmen— A reminiscence 234 

Chaptj:r XXXIV. 

Charles' new lease of life— Uncle David's " crap "—It might have 
been— Features of the change, with the exceptions to the rule 
— A war reminiscence— A surprise 240 

Chapter XXXV. 

Sequelse— Renewal of an old acquaintance—" Get out a here "" — 

Scraps from history— Revelations-- 247 

Chaiter XXXA''I. 

All doubled up— Clearing ditches— Waiting a verdict— A satrap's 
knife— Making hay— Cliarles gets a plumb— A patriotic fool 257 

Chapter XXXVIl. 

The old stubble-ground of slavery— A leaf from history— "Out 
damned spot." , ........,,,,, 261 



12 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Chapter XXXVIII. 

A brief summary — Anticipations 271 

Chapter XXXIX. 

About Grant's 'fair trial " — Also of certain efforts to capture 
the ''illustrious" soldier by invading his family— A chapter of 
Mississippi State politics— Mr. Barksdale becomes a "National 
Republican " — How it all ended 276^ 

Chapter XL. 

A general break-up— " I told you so"— The pretty pickle of the 
enemy— Danger signals '. 284 

Chapter L. 

Yazoo stump oratory— Campaign arguments— The logic of events 
—A dead bulldozer— One time when the " niggers " did not 
run 291 

Chapter LI. 

An example of "superiah strategy "—A brief resume— The les- 
sons of 1869— Happy polecats 307 

Chapter LII. 

Harry Baltimore's opinion of our first " nigger constable"— More 
straw for bricks— A case in point— Additional inducements to 
a solid South— A truthful picture of Southern domestic life — 
A line that was not wiped out at Appomattox, nor ever after- 
ward 31^ 

Chapter LIII. 

Tidings from Charles— Signs of a new crop of men and women 
in Yazoo— Revolutions— What is to become of "we all now 
that nigros can purchase land "— Moi-e straw for bricks— The 
way to Yazoo " upper crust "—Now that Grant is President, 
Rarety '• kicks against the pricks "—Time to take a wife 324 

Chapter LIV. 
A visit to my brother— More ways of the country— Revelations... 330 

Chapter LV. 

More revelations and more straw for bricks— Virtue by contrast- 
Crossing the Rubicon 34j 

Chapter LVI. 

A wedding- An "outcast's" home— Our first social experience 
—The enemy catching at straws— The promises of the truth are 
certain— A temperance campaign in Yazoo— A social revolution 354 

Chapter LVII. 

Marvelous progress of the freed people in the art of self-govern- 
ment—Real carpet-baggers— How they came, to Yazoo, and 
what became of them— Another straw for bricks— Yazoo elec- ""* 
tions, 1867 to 1S75— A Dent ticket full grown ' 363; 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 3 

Chapter LVIII. 

Further niustrations of the political progress of the negro— The 

enemy see a sign— Making a sheriff's bond— Do elections elect 

—Results that •' Old Bill Allen" when he "rose up" could 

hardly have foreseen — Meeting an old acquaintance— Another 

^' nigro rising "—Morgan is sheriff— Death of Mr. Hilliard 369 

Chapter LIX. 

The manner of it— Halting to pay tribute to heroic negroes before 
the dead are buried— 1868 come again— The part the human hor- 
net took in it— That Yazoo jail in 1874 382 

Chapter LX. 

A negro " rising " that took effect— Why the " young one " was 
not put into a murderer's cell— Heroic conduct of '"our nigros" 
— A second " trial "—A righteous Judge —The decision— A spe- 
cimen brick from the Yazoo Democrat— Peace restored— Fawn- 
ing irieconcilables 392 

Chapter LXI. 
An account of my stewardship. 1869 to 1875- A survey of the 
field 401 

Chapter I.XII. 

Account of my stewardship continued -A second crop off the old 
stubble ground of Yazoo 407 

Chapter LXIII. 

Account of my stewardship continued— Kesults— Of what the 
second crop consisted— Our new court-house— Th^ poor-house 
— The jail— New bridges— Improved highways— Improvements 
in Yazoo City— Anew tire-engine— Efforts in behalf of a railroad 

— Free schools— Taxation 416 

Chapter LXIV. 

A surrender— Not ours but the enemy's 423 

Chapter LXV. 
A growing season in Yazoo— More straw for bricks— Brick with- 
out straw— As covering for a pure heart and an enlightened 
mind wiiich is most beautiful, a dark or a liglit skin V 431 

Chapter LXV I. 
About nigro risings— The wolf and the lamb— Signs of the end — 
Was it a race conflict— Preaching State sovereignty and prac- 
ticing the opposite— Specimens of sui)eriah strategy and states- 
manship—Coons i I the canebrakes — A hundred scalps— A peace- 
meeting— Resolutions 436 

Chai'ter LXVII. 
Negro land-owners— Ole marstah's carriage reconstructed— A 
black cloud— Captain Crapo's solution of the race problem — A 
better one than Crapo's— Major Snodgrass' solution of the same 
Did Massachusetts solve it— A tidal wave— Massachusetts 
Democratic— Exultant tears— Jubilant Johnnie Rebs -What 
Major Gibbs said about it -*' Peaceably if we can fo'cibly if we 
must "—'' Sixteen hundred army guns" and otiier guns— A 
" nigro rising." 44 1 



14 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Chapter LXVIIT. 

A prophecy fulfilled— AVhy Governor Ames failed to organize tlie 
militia— Trustina: freedmen and what became of them— The 
wolf and the lamb— Granfs "'promise" — Methods of the con- 
spirators—The night before the battle— "He's a thief "—A 
shot heard round Yazoo— What was it— '• Head, read, read!" — 
Specimens of newspaper enterprise in Yazoo— How Dick 
Mitchell forfeited his life 453 

Chapter LXIX. 

After the battle— AVeary waiting— My new stronghold— What 
was it — Let Fred answer— Grant's nnfiiltilled ''promise"' — 
More ''superiah strategy'' — A reward for Morgan, dead or alive 
— The enemy in possession — Faithful friends — A ride for life 
— "■Profound peace" in Mississippi — Where those "sixteen 
hundred army guns " were — What might have been — A bloody 
ground — The part Alabama took in it — The part Senators 
George and Lamar and Mr. Barksdale took in it — Mississippi 
campaign lies equalled only by campaign murders— A demi-god 
— The bravest of the brave 471 

Chapter LXX. 

Views of Southern statesmen upon " our people " and " our sa- 
cred cause " — Death of the hornet 489 

Chapter LXXI. 
In the hands of the Lord 494 

Chapter LXXII. 

Then and now— have patience — Wait— The forty years in the 
wilderness are passing away 502. 



YaZOO; 



OE, 



ON THE TICKET LINE OE EREEDOM. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE WAR IS OVER — SOUTHV/ARD HO ! — A WONDERFUL COUNTRY. 



CHARLES and I were strangers in Mississippi. Although 
born in ISTew York, we were raised in Wisconsin on a 
farm of what, in that State, is called " openings " and prairie 
land. Therefore we knew something about farming. I had 
had some experience in my father's store and wheat ware- 
house. Perfectly familiar with the crops and the soils of Wis- 
consin, we knew nothing about those of the Mississippi low- 
lands, and until we went South with the Union armies neither 
of us had seen a cotton boll. During the last two years of 
the war many Union soldiers, tempte.d by the large returns 
on the capital investedin cultivating cotton, remained behind 
when their commands returned home to be mustered out, and 
en£:a<jed in that business. 

Charles' service had been in the army which occupied the 
cotton territory, and it was what he had seen, as well as the 
2y 



18 YAZOO? OR, 

information that he had gained from these Yankee planters 
during his three years with the armies of Thomas and Sher- 
man, that tempted him, when the last armed rebel had sur- 
rendered, to seek a permanent home in the far South. 

To me, brother Charles always seemed possessed of a won- 
derful power of self-control. He never lost his head. My 
atfection for him was only less than my love for father, and I 
know that his love for me was very great. I had an abiding 
faith in him ; in his clear head, sound judgment and good 
heart. Therefore, he did not have to persuade me to accom- 
pany him. I was only too glad of his otfer to take me along 
as an equal partner with himself. 

Father only said : '' Boys, you'll rue the day." 

Mother — they are both dead now — " Children, I don't feel 
exactly right about it." 

But we were both of age, and had wills of our own. Of 
course we went. 

It was early autumn when we landed at Vicksburg, 1865. 
Nearly every steamer from above brought large quantities of 
freight and many prospectors like ourselves. The town was 
astir with young life, and new vigor everywhere manifested 
itself. New stores and new residences were building, the 
levees were being repaired, and, though the works of the 
two armies had been dismantled, they had not yet been 
leveled down. 

The caves in which the citizens had taken refuge during 
the siege and the point where Pemberton met Gront and 
arranged the terms of surrender were objects of great interest 
to all strangers. The hotels were full ; they overflowed, 
and we had been obliged to seek accommodation in a 
private family, known to our agent to be highly respectable, 
but so reduced in circumstances by the war that they were 
willing to accept such means of gaining a livelihood. 

Several days were spent in " doing " the town and sur- 
rounding country. Thus we became acquainted with several 
old and new settlers, and with the general business and com- 
mercial interet^ts of the place. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 19 

Land agents were numerous. Each one had lengthy lists 
of " plantations for sale," and " plantations for rent." These 
varied in size from a hundred to ten thousand acres, i^early 
all were amply described, their varied attractions set forth 
with great apparent exactness, and owners or agents were 
always only too glad to show their premises to whomsoever 
might come along. 

We had spent about a month examining such as we could 
hope, from the description of them in the hands of the agent, 
might meet our requirements, without success, when one day 
Mrs. , the only other guest of our hostess, received a let- 
ter from a "dear old friend" of hers, living " up the Yazoo," 
at Yazoo City, announcing that she had been " utterly ruined 
by the war " — all her slaves had run oii' with the first Yan- 
kee troops that came into that section. 

This was true of most of her neighbors. She had not been 
able to educate her daughters as she had hoped. Indeed, 
they did not know how they were to live, unless it could be 
made off " Tokeba." How to do that was the question now 
confronting her. Her husband was not suited to the task of 
organizing a new force for the plantation under the " free sys- 
tem," and if he were, where was the money coming from ? 
It could not be borrowed on the plantation for security. It 
was not to be had of any one in that region; for they all were 
as good as bankrupt. She had racked her brain for weeks, 
a}', months, for some way out of the dilemma. 

For a time she had hoped that the terms granted by the 
" Yankee General Sherman to General -Johnston " migiit be 
interpreted as fairly indicative of the purposes of their '' cou- 
'querors " toward " the South." But not only had there been 
no serious resistance, anywhere, to the annullment of Sher- 
man's "generous terms," the assassination of "Abe Lincoln" 
had apparently given the Yankees a pretext for still more 
radical measures, which she believed would be certain to follow, 
than even the "Bureau for the Freedmen,"* and she had come 
to the conclusion there was no use " trying to hold out any 
longer." 

■■•Bureau Kefngeef, Freedmen and Aljandoned Lands. 



20 YAZOO; OR, 

The negroes were free,andthe sooner the fact was recognized 
by them the better. They might talk if they pleased, but 
she was going to look out for herself and her children. If 
she could find some " suitable JSTorthern gentleman of means " 
to take it, she would lease Tokeba. It might seem like van- 
dalism almost to the merely sentimental, but she had passed 
that stage. It was purely a question of bread. "Would not 

Mrs. look around and see if she could not find someone 

among the " new-comers," of whom there were a great many, 
as she had been told, with the '' requisite capital for so large 
a place as Tokeba ?" 

This Mrs. was a relict of one of the best-known 

families of the South. Her husband had held high places in 
the councils of the nation. He was dead now. Her only son 
had been killed while aiding in the defense of Richmond. 
Her only daughter had entered a convent. She herself was 
a Catholic — a lady of rare accomplishments, and her afflic- 
tions had ennobled her. 

She went directly to Charles with the letter. So anxious 
was she to " serve " her " old friend " she read the whole of 
it to us both, that we might "■ know something of her char- 
acter," she said. 

She knew the place well ; had spent some of the happiest 
moments of her life there as the guest of her correspondent, 
and she felt certain we should be delighted with it and 
with the family of her friend, about all of whom she had 
many pleasant things to say. We had been under the same 
roof for only a little over a mouth; had met each other at 
the table, in the parlor, and had mingled with the family and 

their guests in their homes, but beyond this, Mrs. knew 

no more of us than of any other travelers who might come 
along, yet she frankly avowed that she already knew^ us well 
enough to justify her in commending us to her "dear old friend" 
as the very persons she would choose for herself to become the 
new masters of the " dear old home place." The U].ishot of it 

all was that the next day, armed with a letter from Mrs. 

to her old friend, "Mrs. Charlotte Black, Yazoo City, Miss.," 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 21 

Charles took the Yazoo River packet, bound for that town, 
while I remained to take a steamboat the day following for a 
point about two hundred miles .up the Mississippi River, where 
I was to examine a plantation which our agent had recom- 
mended to us, 

I landed there in the night. The only shelter I could find 
was a plain board shanty with two rooms, occupied by a f reed- 
man and his wife. He was absent in New Orleans for sup- 
plies. After great persuasion I succeeded in getting shelter 
and a ''bed" on the floor before the high fire-place. 

On returning next day from my visit to the plantation, I 
observed there were a good many men in and about an old 
barn-like structure some distance back from the river bank. 
A shed at the landing, this structure, and my shelter were 
the only buildings I could see. My landlady told me they 
were holding " co't " there that day. 

She had already spread a table for fifteen or twenty guests, 
who soon after began to gather around it. I thought they 
returned my salutations gruffly, and that they appeared 
curious about me. At each end of the table was a large 
bottle of whisky, which was offered to me, but I declined, 
saying I never drank anything. 

This resulted in a request, which was more like a demand, 
for my name. One who appeared to be the leader, asked 
me where I came from, and what my business there was. 
This I frankly made known to them, and then the " late war " 
became the only topic of conversation. Finally, the spokes- 
man announced that " no Yankee radical could ever come 
into that county, make a crop and get away with it," and 
the cro"\vd joined in abusive personal epithets. 

It occurred to me that I ought to get away from them ; but 
how ? There was no boat, nor would there be until the fol- 
lowing morning, perhaps not then. I resolved to try and 
shame them. So rising, I said I had indeed been in the Federal 
army, and had never yet been ashamed of the fact. I was 
there for the purpose of engaging in a legitimate business 



22 



YAZOO ; OR, 



enterprise, as I had a right to do, and concluded b}- saying, 
that if tliey really possessed any of that "chivalry" they 
claimed as peculiar to the Southern character, they would 
not have treated an utter stranger as they had done me. 
Then I left the table, and passed into the only other room 
in the building. A thin board partition divided me from 
them, and, although their talk was in a much lower key than 
before, I could hear most of it. 

When they had finished their meal, the leader, whom they 
called Major, came in, apologized to me and quite warmly 
urged me to " accept the hospitalities of my home, sir, such 
as it is," etc., assuring me of his " personal protection," and 
concluded with a hint that he might, after all, determine to 
lease his own plantation, or, we might find one in his neigh- 
borhood that would suit me. 

It was "■ agreed " that he should send his " boy," with the 
Major's " own saddle horse," for me in the morning, and we 
separated; he for his home, while I took the steamer, which 
happened to be on time early next morning, for Vicksburg. 

The fact is, after they had all gone I had a brief consulta- 
tion with my landlady, and concluded that would be the 
safer course for me. For, while so much of their talk as I 
had been able to hear was about me, she assured me their 
plan was to decoy me to the country, where they would be 
in waiting, and hang me to a tree by the roadside. During 
the presence of her guests this woman had been in full 
sympathy with them, so far as I could see. But no sooner 
were we alone than she manifested great concern for my 
safety. 

I related this experience to different Southern men, whom I 
saw on my return to Vicksburg, and each one declared they 
were •' some irresponsible, worthless fellows " who had, prob- 
ably, never been in the Confederate army, and I ought 
not to heed anything they said or did. 

Nevertheless they were in attendance at court, some of 
them as jurymen. Nearly all wore the Confederate gray, and 
carried pistols. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 23 

Two days afterward Charles returned, lie took occasion 

to see Mrs, at once, and inform her that he had rented 

Tokeba for three years, subject to my approval. 

She was " perfectly delighted." 

That evening Charles and I sat up until after midnight 
talking over the matter. He gave me a detailed account of 
his trip, beginning with incidents of the journey to Yazoo 
City, in the course of which he had met several Northern 
men en route to ditlerent points on the Yazoo Eiver, and 
with a purpose similar to his own. 

He had also met and. conversed with several citizens of 
Yazoo City returning from Vicksburg with supplies for their 
plantations or stores. 

All seemed to vie with each other in expressions of wel- 
come to him, on learning the object of his visit. As to 
Tokeba, it offered greater advantages for the development of 
our plans than he had seen anywhere else, and he gave me a 
minute description of it. 

Formerly, if for nothing else than to tease him, it had 
been a sort of habit with me to oppose all manner of criti- 
cisms to his premises or conclusions. 

On this occasion I began by relating my experience with 

Major and his friends. He indignantly replied that I 

ought not to class the " denizens of such a region " with ''a 
civilized community like Yazoo," and reminded me that 
there was neither city nor town of any importance nearer 
than a hun<]red miles, if so near ; that it w^is an "out of the 
way place, anyway," where the "influences' of civilization " 
had " doubtless been excluded since the w^ar began," while 
Yazoo City, on the contrary, was " quite a commercial centre," 
Then, unfolding his map, he proceeded to trace out the num- 
erous advantages possessed by Yazoo City geographically, 
from a commercial point of view, with results that astonished 
me. 

AVe had already been able to form pretty accurate notions 
of the fertility of the region, but my mind had not taken it 



24 YAZOO ; OR. 

all in before. Under the light shed upon it by my brother^ 
I was now able to see that the intersection of the great 
"slopes" from the South and East, with those from the 
JSTorth and West, near the confluence of the Missouri, Mis- 
sissippi and Ohio rivers, formed the geographical centre of a 
territory equal in area to the whole of Europe; leaving out 
Russia, Norway and Sweden ; that debouching from this cen- 
tre, the Mississippi River was the only water outlet for that 
vast region, and drained nineteen States of our Union ; fully 
one and a quarter million square miles ; that the average 
width of this river from Cape Girardeau to the Gulf of 
Mexico was more ttian three thousand feet, and that it 
flowed for a distance of more than twelve hundred miles, 
through a deposit of alluvium sufficient in area and capa- 
city of productiveness to feed and clothe the populations of 
the United States, Great Britain and Ireland, France, Italy, 
and Spain ; that the Yazoo, one of the "feeders" of this cen- 
tral channel, drained fifteen thousand square miles; thatYazoa 
City was situated at the base of the range of tertiary hills 
which bound this alluvial region along its whole extent on the 
east, was one hundred and twelve miles from Vicksburg,.. 
on the Yazoo River; and that the Great Northern Rail- 
road, running from New Orleans and connecting with Louis- 
ville, passed through the county on the east of the town 
only twenty-six miles away ! Prior to coming South, to 
give me the benefit of a comparison, we had, upon my 
brother's motion, taken a trip through Missouri into Kansas, 
as far as we could go by rail. Not far beyond Sedalia we 
spent three days, prospecting upon the prairie lands of that 
region. While there, we learned that a tract of ten thou- 
sand acres, belonging to a rebel general, who had expatriated 
himself upon the surrender of Lee, was for sale, and could 
be had for ten dollars per acre. We rode over portions of 
this tract. It was rich prairie loam, with some stretches of 
oak, and the railroad ran through tie centre of it. 

Charles was strongly tempted to stop there. But anxious 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 25 

to know more of the " wonderful " soils of the Mississippi 
bottoms, after going on into Kansas, we concluded to post- 
pone purchase until after we had made a close personal in- 
spection of the cotton territory. 

For some months the influential newspapers North had con- 
tained glowing descriptionsof parts of the South, and editorials 
encouraging immigration into that region. The former cry, "Ga 
West, young man," had undergone just enough variation by 
the substitution of '' South " for " West," to effect a change, 
already quite apparent, in the purposes of those of the North 
who were seeking new homes, and as Charles touched this 
point, he grew eloquent indeed. 

In his view he saw such a tide of thrifty emigrants and 
others with capital setting southward, as within twenty-five 
years would make the two million people of the Mississippi 
lowlands twenty millions, and in a century a hundred millions. 
" Thanks to the overthrow of slavery," my brother ex- 
claimed; *^ these great natural advantages can no longer be 
hidden from the home-seekers of the world." 

In his opinion we were fortunate beyond measure in having 
presented to us an opportunity to precede, if we could not 
lead, this vast host, in the work of laying the foundations of 
this new empire by building canalf, railroads, and other facili- 
ties for its development. 

One of the first of his plans, after our three years of plant- 
ing, embraced the constructing of a railroad from Yazoo City 
east, connecting with the Great Northern at some conven- 
ient point, so as to give the inhabitants of the Yazoo Delta 
a competing line of transportation 'for their commerce. 
Situated as Yazoo City was there was nothing in the way 
of its becoming a great commercial centre. 

As to the people, nothing could exceed their desire for 
" oblivion of the past," and for a recognition by " Northern 
gentlemen " and "capitalists" of the natural advantages of 
their town and section for the profitable investment of their 
money, their labor, and their brains. 



26 YAZOO ; OR, 

At last, and as a clincher, ni}' brother related how the price 
at first demanded was ten dollars an acre for the open or 
ploughed lands, being the same as that asked by other owners. 
But as our plans embraced a permanent residence in the 
community where we should determine to locate as renters, 
and as the lease was to be for three years instead of one, 
Mrs. Black had been the first to consent to a reduction to 
seven dollars per acre: Charles' ofir'er. She had even thrown 
in a cypress brake of several thousand trees, with permission 
to cut from it all the timber for our purposes we might wish, 
including the manufacture of all kinds of lumber for the 
market. This, to Charles, was one of the best features of his 
bargain. For, as he declared, should the crop from any cause 
fail, the profits from this branch of the business could be re- 
lied upon to save us from any very great losses. He would 
'■'■ make one hand wash the other," whatever might come. 
And a flush of honest pride can^e over his face, while he con- 
tinued : " Besides, my dear boy, you know I neither chew, 
smoke, drink, nor use profane language, and when they in-' 
quired whether you were the same sort of fellow, I was able 
to say that I knew you pretty well, and the only bad habit 
you had, to my knowledge; was smoking." 

'' Well," said I, for my curiosity was aroused to know what 
sort of people they were, anyway, " What said they to that ?" 

'' The mother said it was a pity, for she believed the tobacco 
habit was a hurtful one. She knew it to be a filthy one. 
Then one of the young ladies inquired whether it was a pipe 
or cigar you smoked. On my telling them I never knew you 
to smoke a pipe, she seemed pleased, for she said: ' Oh ! well, 
ma, that is not so bad, I am sure.' She pronounced ma, as if 
it were spelled maw ; and sure, as if spelled shooah. Ha ! 
ha ! " 

" You know my only introduction was a letter from Mrs. 
, to whom we are strangers, who introduced me as one 



whom she had known for only about a month. But when I 
was ready to come away, one of Mrs. Black's guests placed 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 27 

nearly a tliousand dollars in cash in my Land to expend for 
iiim in the purchase of suj^plies for his plantation. I tell 
you, Albert, it does make a difference in our relations with 
the world, what sort of people one is dealing with. I mean 
as to personal habits. I am sure it has had great weight with 
Mrs. Black. She is quite refined and cultivated, but a shrewd 
business woman with it all. In fact she is the ' man of the 
house ;' the old Colonel is somewhat dissipated. Wh}^ she 
as good as told me she would rather rent her place to gentle- 
men — you know they always say gentlemen — of correct habits 
and high principles, at seven dollars per acre, than to others 
at doable the money. In fact she made many pleasant 
speeches to me, and never once appeared to hesitate to accord 
me perfect social intercourse in her family. She rather 
encouraged me, I fancied, to pay some attention to the 
eldest of her two daughters. To be sure, they were all rank, 
fire- eating rebels, except, possibly, Mrs, Black; yet every 
evening she managed to have one or more of her lady friends 
to dinner or in the parlor, and allowed me to see that she 
felt gratified by my presence in her house and my courteous 
manner toward her friends." 

My brother's pleasure at finding the women of Yazoo so 
accomplished and agreeable was, I am sure, solely from the 
human desire for agreeable social companionship, and his 
representations in thilt particular helped to banish my doubts 
as to the place he had selected for our new home. The next 
day we separated, he to the North for supplies, and the even- 
ing following I took the "good steamer " Martin Walt for 
Tokeba, via Yazoo City, where I was to remain at least over 
the Sunday following. 

I was then twenty-three Charles was ten years older, 
Neither of us had ever married. If I had ever thought 
upon the subject, certainly it then was the one thought 
farthest from my mind. Charles, I am certain, never once 
thought of seeking a wife there. My faith in him "was limit- 
less, lie was the successful boy of our family. He never 



28 YAZOO ; OR, 

made mistakes. I cannot now recall any undertaking of his 
life, up to that time, in which he had not succeeded accord- 
ing to his plans, and his confidence in the future of Yazoo 
City amounted to enthusiasm. I had been but illy able to 
disguise my own as he advanced from point to point in the 
unfolding of his plans as to Tokeba, Yazoo, and the great 
Delta. 

Alas, my brother ! He has been dead now five years, and 
these events occurred eighteen years ago. But the perfect 
figure of this man of perfect health, perfect honor, and per- 
fect faith in our enterprise and in mankind, as he appeared 
to me on that last evening of our stay together in Vicks- 
burg, is as fresh and as accurately imaged before me this 
moment as then. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 29 



CHAPTER II. 



FIRST LESSONS — COLONEL J. J. U. BLACK AS TEACHER. 

q^OKEBA* PLANTATION, in 1865, contained nine bun- 
i dred acres " open " land, '•' more or less," for so it was 
described in the contract, which the lawyers of Mrs. Charlotte 
Black, wife of Colonel J. J. U. Black, wrote out, and which, 
having been signed by the Colonel as " agent in fact " for Mrs. 
Black, " of the first part," and by Charles, one of the " par- 
ties of the second part," lay in their hands awaiting my sig- 
nature. In that instrument we promised to pay to Mrs. 
Black, for Tokeba, seven dollars per acre per annum for a 
term of three years, one-half of the annual rental to be paid 
in advance. It was upon the west bank of the Yazoo River, 
and lay in a compact body, bounded on the north by a bayou, 
from which it derived its name, and upon the south by the 
cypress brake. It was two and a half miles above Yazoo 
City, which nestled at the foot of the bliiii'^) that crowded to 
the water's edge at that point, on the east bank of the river. 
From my station on Peak Tenaritie, the verj^ day of my 
arrival, I was able to see where the plantation lay from a 
small opening in the vast forest of gum and cypress that cov- 
ered the alluvium, which stretched away toward the west, far 
beyond the Mississippi River, eight}' miles distant, as the 
crow flies. 

*An Indian -word, thousrh some said it was a corniplion of " tcok a bar." It had 
•once been I'amous ground forbear hunting. 



30 TAZOO ; OR, 

I had been heartily welcomed by the Black family. They 
would not allow me to remain at the hotel, where I had taken 
lodgings upon leaving the Martin Walt that glorious Sab- 
bath morning, bat insisted I should make their home mine 
" for the present." 

My first impression of them was favorable. The next 
morning, bright and early, the Colonel, mounted on a little, 
old gray horse, and myself, mounted on a smart, mouse-col- 
ored mule, were off for the plantation. Our route lay over 
the alluvion fringing the east bank of the river for many 
miles, along the point of land formed by a bend which the 
river makes for the accommodation of Tokeba. 

That the bend is really for that purpose is clear, from the 
fact that after touching the northeast corner of the place in 
its westward course, at the mouth of the bayou, it proceeds to 
scallop its eastern end in such a manner as to make the fam- 
ily residence-site, midway its width, a point of view from which 
the sluggish stream may be followed with the eye, toward the 
northeast a considerable distance above the bayou's mouth, 
and toward the southeast quite to the town, through the 
densely overhanging trees. 

At Yazoo City, after butting itself against the bluffs, the 
river takes oft" at a sharp angle toward the west, with greatly 
increased velocity, into the alluvion again, through which, 
resuming its sluggish flow, it ploughs its way without further 
interruption until, attracted by the hills, it touches them 
again at Liverpool. 

As in the former case, at this point it resumes its 
westerly course, with velocity again quickened until it has 
left the bluft'in the rear, and then, attaining its normal flow, 
it passes into the sombre, level plain. After passing Haines' 
Bluff, where Sherman and portions of his army once crossed, 
it glides gently, with an almost imperceptible movement 
of its turgid waters, over the grave of Fernando de Soto, 
for so the legend says) into the bosom of the great " Father 
of Waters." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OP FREEDOM. 31 

We had gone scarcely a mile when the Colonel began to 
halloa: " Plo-ou-ou-ou-pee ! " long drawn out. It sounded 
in the cool, clear air through the fore&t, shrill and loud as a 
blast from a hunter's horn. Long practice had made him 
expert. His horse understood its meaning, pricked up his 
ears and struck into a smart canter. It was the Colonel's 
call to the ferryman on Tokeba, and was repeated every min- 
ute or two, so that when we reached the ferry-landing the 
•' flat," guided and propelled by an old black man, touched 
our shore. The ferryman, bent in body and with legs all 
awry, promptly scramliled out and made the flat fast to a peg in 
the ground, pending which the following conversation took 
place: 

" Good-morning, Bristol," said Colonel Black cheerily. 

" Good-mornin', marstah," was the man's response 

'•' This gentleman is Captain Morgan's brother, Bristol. 
We're going over to take a look at Tokeba this morning. 
How's aunt — " 

But at this point he abruptly ceased speaking, and turning 
upon the freedman a most wrathful countenance, exclaimed : 

" Hi, you black rascal ! Don't go putting on the airs of a 
gentleman about me. D'ye-y'hear ? Mind that !" 

At the tirst word Bristol seized his long pole, scrambled 
on to the flat, upon which we had led our horses, and hum- 
bly ejaculating: " Ye-a-as, Mars deems," began pushing us out 
into the stream. 

Meanwhile the Colonel continued: " These Yankees have 
come down, y'here, to make money, G — d d — n* you. D'you 
ever see a Yankee who didn't love money ? You'll have to 
quit yo' d — d free nigger notions around them, d'ye-y'hear? 
and me too, or by G — d I'll see ye all in hell befoah I'll give 
ye a recommend to them." 

*It will be impossible for me to present to the reader a perfect likeness of Colonel Black. 
He was a slave-holder, a rebel, my host, my landlord, and my most implacat)le foe. Ho 
has been dead some years. I long at,'0 foreRave him. Under ordinary circnmstances 
1 would cover all his faults with tliat mantle of cluirity which belongs of riglit to ordinary 
mortals afterdeath. But Colonel Black was so conspicuous a personage at a time when 
the foundations of a newer and better civilization were being laid there, that I .should 
be false to essential truths were J, from feelings of delicacy, or of regard for sensitive 
readers, to fail to paint him in native colors. 



32 YAZOO ; OK, 

^hat had the poor fellow done ? For the life of me, I 
had not observed anything to criticise in his deportment. 
When the Colonel made known to him who I was, he had 
straightened himself up as well as his wabbling legs would 
permit, taken his hat ofi", and gravely bowed to me, saying: 

" Good-mornin', Massa Kunnel," with an attempt at dig- 
nity that made him appear ridiculous, to be sure; but what 
of that ? 

Colonel Black consumed the time of our trip over, in im 
parting to me the information that he knew " the whole 
•damned nigro * tribe. Give them an inch and they'll take 
an ell. They can be governed only by fear. You'll not be 
able to do ouy thing with them unless you start right. They 
are by nature a lazy, thieving, treacherous paople. I wouldn't 
trust one of them. This fellow, Bristol, is tainted, like all 
the rest, with those damned notions about freedom, which 
you damned Yankees " 

Here he checked himself, apologized, and resumed: 

" It is true that Bristol did not run off with the rest to 
the first Yankee soldiers that came along. The grand rascal 
had good reasons for not doing so. He was my carpenter — 
a sort of jack-of- all-trades, and has kept this ferry so long, 
I reckon he preferred to remain on the place where he is sho' 
of a living. But he is not a whit better than the rest." 

Landing at the mouth of the ba3^ou, we rode out to the 
gin-house, only a few rods distant, thence over the spot he 
said Charles had selected for a mill-site, thence to the 
"quarter," two hundred yardd further on, and from the quarter 
thence to the knoll where stood the family residence, em- 
bowered in China and magnolia trees. From here we rode 
over the plantation, stretching back from the river fulh' two 
miles, up and along the bayou, which bounded it on the 
north; thence to the cypress brake on the south, whence, 
tired and hungry, we returned by the route we came to town, 
and a late dinner. 

* Englishmen say " negro." Many Yankees and "poor white trash" have accus- 
tomed themselves to say "nigger" or "darkey." The real Southern lady or gentle- 
man pronounces the word with a snap, denoting mastery, thus, "nigro." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 33 

The plantation was all Charles had claimed for it. Such 
trees as there were in the brake I had never seen before. 
Many of them were six to eight feet in diameter above the 
bulging roots, and ran up skyward straight as an arrow, eighty 
feet or more to the first limb. That which impressed me 
most, however, was the deserted " quarter." There were 
cabins of one and two rooms for a force of one hundred and 
twenty-five or more hands. Only two of them were now 
occupied. In one was an old man, no longer " serviceable," 
but who was taking care of and supporting his mother who, 
they said, was several years more than a century old. In the 
other were Sallie and her nursing babe. She was not more 
than thirty-two, and had lost a leg.' 

*' The only able-bodied persons on the place were Anderson 
Henderson and his wife Judy, who occupied apartments 
at the great-house (the family residence)," the Colonel said, 
rather harshly. 

During our ride Colonel Black endeavored to entertain me 
with incidents in the life of a slave-owner. These were illus- 
trative of the " humanity " and " chivalry " of the master, 
and of the barbarity of the slave. 

The story of the trip, how^ever, the one of which he seemed 
to have stored the fondest recollections, was an account of 
his canvass before the war as the nominee of the " Old-line 
Whigs," for a seat in the State Senate, 

It was made by him on horseback with two mules follow- 
ing behind, upon which he had packed " that gal, Sal, by 
G — d, sir," together with an ample supply of whisky and 
tobacco. That was before Sallie lost her leg, and when she 
was a " likely gal." Thus equipped he was able to offer to the 
suftVagans of Yazoo weightier arguments than his opponent 
on the Democratic ticket, for he could bid them " choose to 
their taste" from the greater variety of the *' creature com- 
forts " which he " toted about " .with him. " 13y G— d, sir. 



3y 



34 YAZOO ; OR, 

that did the business for me, and I was the first AVhig Sena- 
tor ever sent to the legislature from this county."* 

I remember but one other incident which in his estimate 
equaled this one in occasion for merriment, or that furnished 
me with so much food for thought. It was recalled to him 
by the wrecks of several large steamboats lying in the river 
as we rode past them. 

" I stood right up there on my po'ch, by G — d, sir," said 
he. " Tliey had taken the alarm and left their landing below, 
thinking to get out of reach of Ross' Cavalry by hiding up 
j'here, where they thought themselves protected from any 
large body of our troops by the low country. But a mere 
handful of our fellows made a detour above, came down upon 
them suddenly out of the thick timber yan, and caught the 
rascals oft" their guard. Several of them were on the wheel 
repairing it at the time. They were blick Yankees, every one 
of them, by G — d, sir, and looked for all the world like the 
row of black birds, that they were. They were the first nig- 
ger troops sent into this section, and were putting the very 
d — 1 into the heads of our nigros. There was no earthly 
reason why Ross should not have captured them and hung 
them all long before. But our people never thought well of 
Ross, anyway. He did not amount to much, by G — d, sir — 
■except to steal stock and cotton. Well, as I was saying, 
these black rascals were on the wheel — it was a stern-wheeler 
— working away like a pacel of d — n lazy niggers lolling in 
the sun, as they were; good for nothing as soldiers. Soldiers 
h— 1 ! Well, by G — d, sir, they looked for all the world like 
n string of black birds, ha ! ha ! ha ! Well, as I was saying, 
five of them, by G — d, sir, ha ! ha ! ha ! — d — n 'f I don't 
forget whether 'twas five or six, but all the same, anyhow, 
they were all nigros but one — tumbled over into the water 
from the first volley and the balance surrendered, by G — d, sir. 

* On the threshold of this narrative I beg the reader to remember that I have set out 
to tell the whole truth about the state of society in Yazoo. At this lute date therefore, 
it is but right that the facts be stated in language so plain that the average American 
woman, or man, may readily comprehend how I was impressed by personal contact with 
the people of Yazoo. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 35 

It was one of the neatest captures I ever witnessed, or read 
about. It was a little tough on the poor, d — d Yankees, ha ! 
ha ! ha ! — Yo're not a Yankee, yo're a "Western man. It 
was not a regular force of our troops. It was a po'tion of 
Captain Ramie's independent company." 

These " stories " caused me to wonder greatly whether 
this man had exhibited the same side to my brother, that he 
was now without reserve uncovering to me. I could not bring 
myself to think he had. Of course, the last incident was of 
•war, but he could have related it with less of the relish that 
a wolf is supposed to have for choice lamb, and as to the 
other — well, I will not characterize it. 

Before we started that morning the Colonel invited me to 
his sideboard. On my refusid he declared " that a morning 
dram " was essential to health in that climate. On our return 
in the evening he again invited me, insisting that an " even- 
ing dram," just before dinner, was absolutely requisite to 
■"proper digestion " in that climate. He repeated his visits 
to the sideboard quite often during the evening until bed-time, 
when he implored me to drink with him, declaring that I 
would not be able to endure the climate without a " night- 
cap " to induce sound and healthful sleep. 

I thought I saw that this habit was a sore affliction to Mrs. 
Black, and I know that his rudeness to me in inviting me so 
often to the sideboard, after being informed by my repeated 
refusals that I would not drink, gi-eatly humiliated her. In- 
deed, she indignantly protested against it. 

This habit of Colonel Black was not of recent origin, as he 
himself declared. It had grown up with him. He was an 
honest advocate of the regular use of whisky, " as a stimu- 
lant." I have said an honest advocate, for so he appeared to 
be, and his drams seemed to have no other effect on him than 
to inflate his ideas of his own importance, and to open his 
hand in a generous hospitality; the only offensive feature of 
which was his failure to comprehend how an old soldier could 
get on in this world without whisky. His only response to 



36 YAZOO ; OR, 

mj declaration that I had served all through the war, from 
the first Bull Run to Appomattox, without having taken " so 
much as one dram of any kind of liquor," was a long, dazed 
stare. 

The following morning I accompanied him to the office of 
Mrs. Black's lawyers, where I examined the contract, found 
mv brother's well-known signature, and under it placed my 

own.* 

While I was engaged with the lawyers, the Colonel went 
out upon the streets, and by the time our legal business was 
concluded a number of his friends had dropped in. On all 
sides there was apparently a desire to give me a hearty wel- 
come to Yazoo, and I spent some time in pleasant conversa- 
tion with them 

The sideboard, however, in the shape of a huge demi- 
john, kept in the back room, formed as great an attraction to 
Colonel Black's friends here as at his residence. Those who 
called were cordially invited to " step into the back room " 
by one or other of the attorneys, and the Colonel helped him- 
self " right smart." In this respect the situation was some- 
what embarrassing to me. I would not take anything, and 
my repeated refusals became a subject for general remark. 
All agreed that that fact alone would sufficiently distinguish 
me from old residents of that section to gratify any desire 
for notoriety that I might possess; and predicted that before 
I had lived there six months I would have learned the folly of 
my way, and would take my '^social glass " like the rest of them. 
Of course, all this was in a vein of pleasant badinage, and 
merely illustrative of the " open-handed hospitality of Yazoo- 
ans;" for so it seemed to be. I found both of Mrs. Black's- 
lawyers to be courteous and apparently skillful attorneys. 
Their office was in a one-story structure, opening out on Main 
iStreet. It was a sort of rendezvous for the " leading citi- 
zens" of the county, as well as of the town, 

* It was Mrs. Black, and not the Colonel, we were ilealing with, and I thought we- 
sjould be able to get on Mith her. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 37 

I also observed that the opinions of these lawyers upon 
almost all subjects in which planters and merchants were 
interested at that time, were received as law by those who 
sought them, and I could not fail to see that the legal pro- 
fession, in which they were evidently the local autocrats, was 
highly esteemed in Yazoo. They did not seem to care to dis- 
cuss the war. Others did, and as many as said anything upon 
the subject agreed that the "wah is over," the "nigros are 
free;" *'we wor whipped!" *' we don't want any mo' of it in 
ourn." The silence of these astute lawyers and an occasional 
shrug or wise look, struck me as indicatino: a mental reserva- 
tion, at least, on their part, in their sort of involuntary 
acquiescence in the opinion prevailing on this point. 

At dinner that day Mrs. Black and her daughters, having 
learned of my ability to stand out against one of " the ways 
of the country," expressed their gratification in terms that 
could not be mistaken. 



YAZOO ; OR, 



CHAPTER III. 

A FIRST DAY WITH THE FREEDMEN OF YAZOO — WHAT WAS ACCOM- 
PLISHED BY THE WAR. 

IT had been arranged by Charles and myself before we 
separated at Vicksburg, that during his absence I should 
endeavor to gather together the labor required for Tokeba. 
Should he be able to arrange for a saw-mill it was our pur- 
pose to bring trained men from the North to operate it. 

The cotton harvest closes with the year. In the days of 
slavery, therefore, the holiday season was undoubtedly the 
best for such an undertaking, and 1 was advised by the Colo- 
nel and nearly all old residents with whom I counseled upon 
the subject, that it would still be the best season for my 
purposes. The war had completely overturned their labor 
system^ however, as all agreed. I argued that it had or would 
overturn this custom also.* 

There were daily many freedmen in town in search of 
work. But Colonel Black assured me that these were mostly 
restless, " no-account nigros," who were taking advantage 
of their freedom to leave their masters, or were of those who 
had '* run oft" with the Yankees," and were waiting for their 
" forty acres of land and a mule." 

I did not lack for advisers, and was struck with the una- 
nimity of sentiment and opinion upon this subject. But the 

*0f course I did not then realize how fixr-reaching in its consequences to the planting 
and commercial interests of the cotton territory would be any change of this custom. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 39 

hoHdaj^s were rapidly approaching, and as many Northerners 
were prospecting for favorable locations on the Yazoo River, 
I deemed it wise to set about my task without further delay. 
In the crowd of freed people I had observed standing about 
the street corners, or in front of store-doors, there were few 
seeking homes for themselves alone. Most of them appeared 
well-behaved, orderly, able-bodied, and as though they had 
not long been idle. Ou closer inquiry I found that many of 
them had homes and had but recently quit work. In such 
cases the family remained with the old master, and their aban- 
donment of him was wholly dependent upon the success of 
their representative in his efforts to find an employer for him- 
self and them. In no case was he willing to hire himself for 
more than a brief period without his family. This feature 
of the situation struck me forcibly as worthy of more con- 
sideration than I had given to the general subject of labor. 
The few men and women without families that I could 
get to go for a term of three years, or even one year to the 
plantation, appeared to me dissipated and unreliable. 

I had expected to be able to go into the labor market, and 
buy and pay for the labor required for Tokeba in the 
ordinary way — the one in which I had been reared. It had 
not occurred to either Charles or myself, while discussing 
the subject of labor for Tokeba, that, in order to secure a 
force of one hundred or so hands for the place, it would be 
necessary to make provision for food and clothes for any greater 
number than was actually required for its cultivation. 

Both Colonel and Mrs. Black assured me that this had 
always been a chief obstacle to the profitable cultivation of cot- 
ton, except where their owners combined the business of breed- 
ing slaves with planting. This branch of the slave industry 
of the South had been less generally availed of by Mississippi 
planters than by their brethren in Virginia, for example. 
But the necessities of their labor system were gradually driv- 
ing the planters of the cotton States into the practice. The 
supply from the grand old " mother of statesmen" was not 



40 YAZOO; OR, 

equal to the growing derucmd. Besides, the laborers were 
made more contented thereby. Of course they '* live together 
like the lower animals," Colonel Black would say, " and the 
desire to raise a family was purely a sensual one." It grati- 
fied the cupidity of the master in another way. also, for it 
often happened that there would be " a surplus that could be 
turned into money." 

Now this phase of the question shocked me, and, strange 
to say, I realized for the first time the true inwardness of 
slavery; I say strange, because I had been born and bred a 
hater of slavery, and up to this moment had supposed that 
I knew what it was. Alas ! I was only beginning to learn. 
Here, upon the very threshold, I was met with that prob- 
lem which lay at the root of the American system of slavery, 
and Was required to solve it or abandon all attempts to plant 
cotton. This was evident. 

-Neither Colonel Black nor his wife appeared to sympathize 
with me in the dilemma in which I found myself. The rea- 
son was, that they could not take in the same objects from the 
point of view that I did. Indeed, they could not put themselves 
in my place at all. It is all clear enough to me now. It 
puzzled me somewhat then. From my point of view their 
emancipation brought to the slaves liberty of choice, within 
only such proper restraints as were imposed upon all. I had 
never doubted that, left to himself, the slave would prefer 
that his wife should not work in the fields, but attend to her 
children and household atfairs; that he would insist upon 
school facilities for his children, and would gladly do the toil- 
ing necessary to these ends. But here were rugged, brawny 
men, every one of whom insisted upon my employing their 
wives and children as field hands, as a condition of their con- 
sent to work for us; and here was our landlord and his good. 
Christian wife trying to aid me in the solution of this prob- 
lem, by explaining certain features of one which we all agreed 
had already been solved by the war. Such was the only result 
of my first day among the freed people of Yazoo. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 41 

When next I went among them, to the first man who asked 
me aho to employ his wife and children to work in the fields 
I put this question : 

'' Why will you freedmen all insist that your wives shall 
work in the field? " He seemed not to understand me, so 
I repeated it. The poor fellow looked about him as though 
to see whether we were likely to be overheard, and replied: 

'^ Bees you a Yankee ? I know you is, do, kase I dun seed 
it. Laws! Kunnel; I specs yo' is a Kunnel. We col'ud 
folks is too po'. Mars ain't dun tole us we is free yit, an' we 
got no money, an' no close, nur nuffin, 'cept'n what we eat 
and what we wahr. We dun heerd 'bout de Yankees comin' 
'bout de Azoo, an' brerer Jon'than he 'lowd mount ez well 
come down y'hea and see fur ouah own self." 

" Well," said I, " should you go with us we will pay you 
wages, you know, and that will enable you to support your 
wife. " 

" How much ye 'low ter pay me ? " inquired the freed- 
man. 

" Fifteen dollars per month." 

" He ! Dat's heep mo' money den I dun seed dis blessed 
yeah. But ye see, Kunnel, nun on us niggers got no Ian', 
nur no mooles, nur nuffin, 'cep'n wot we eat an' wot we 
wahr, an' Uncle Jon'than, he 'low'd ef 'twar so dat de Yan- 
kee's comin' in y'hea, and we is all free, dat de o'omin folks 
an' all on um jes go 'way frum dah. He 'low'd, he did, dat 
we all better wuk, little an big, t'wel we got hole some ob 
dis y'hea Ian' what we is a stau'in' on, and I 'low'd ter do jes 
dat er way fust, Kunnel. Ole Uncle Si, he 'low'd niggers 
nebber will own no Ian'. Kase dey ain't nun fur um, an' de 
white folks won' nebber gi'e us nun daern, nur sell us 
nun nuther; kase dey 'feered de bottum rail mout come 
on de top. But de Yankee sojas wor dar lookin' arter 
'fedrit cotting an' Gobment mooles, jes fo' de s'render, an' 
dey 'low'd dat we all mout own Ian' jes 'e same ez dc white 
folks, wen we dun buy it, an' pay fur it out'en ouah own 
money. But Uncle Si, he 'clar' dem Yankees no 'count no 



42 YAZOO ; OR, 

way. Kase nun on 'um corned dar in de ole Homes 
County,* whai" we uns all wor wukin' fur ole Mars, jez 'e- 
same ez 'fo' de wah, any mo'. " 

"You see, MarsE!unnel, niggers got no larnin', no how, an'~ 
dem Homes County niggers dar whar we is, nebber heern de 
wah wor ober t'wel young Mars Henry 'low'd he nebber g' wain 
back ter Kichmon' no mo', kase Mars Lee dun s'render. 
Den we 'low'd dey -wor whipped, an' nebber g'wain tell us nig- 
gers. But den, nigger got eyes, an' he y'eah mighty long dis- 
tanze, too. So Uncle Jon'than he rund ofi' de Satu'day 
comin' an' peered like he nebber would come back no mo',. 
t'wel one night he jes' drapped down frum de hebbens like 
he wor' a angel, an' dar comed 'long two Yankee sojas wid 
da guns an' da pistils an' da shiuin' buttons, an' 'low'd, ef 
Mars lib any whar 'round dat er way ? Ole Mars, he dun 
y'eah de fuss an' de dogs a barkin', an' Jon'than's wife she 
bust out a shoutin,' kase she dun yeah Jon'than a walkin' 
'bout in de kitchin, an' she knowed his step fo' dat day.. 
Den de sojas dey holla 'bout de dog, an' swo' dey shoot um 
ef dey doan call um off. Ole Mars done went out dar den,, 
mighty peert, an' call de dogs ofl', an' tie um up, an' spoke 
to de sojas, an' wor mighty perlite, too, an' tole um, ' Gen- 
'lemens, doan be afeerd, dey woan bite, cep'n yo' is niggers, 
deez is nigger dogs, dey is; ' an' den one de sojas he sot down 
he musket on de groun', an' say, sais he, 'Ole man, yo' 
got no fodder for dees y'hereanimools?' I tbo'ti'd di' a lafHn'^ 
or buss, kase Mars wor a preacher, he wor, an' he nebber 
use de kuss wud hisself, an' dar dem sojas jez a cussin' an' a 
dammin' de dogs an' ole Mars, an' a tellin' of um how dey 'low'd 
dey g'wain help da self, an' broke de doah ef he wouldn' make 
hase an' gie um de key. An' fo' God ! dey tuck de key, an' dey 
'low'd de fodder au' de co'n no 'count, an' poad out de 
wheat ole Mars dun bin sabin' gin plantin' time fur ter sow, 
an' j-cs turned de mooles looze on-ter it, jez ez do dar wor 
nuffn' to good fur dem ar Yankee mooles. Den dey ax ole 
Mars fur dem fo' bale 'fedrit cotting he wor a hidin' dar, an' if 

* This county adjoins Vazoo Coiuity on tlic northeast. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 43 

he' got no Gobraeut mooles on cle place, an' 'low'd dey had 
orders fur ter sarch troo der premumses. Den de wun whar 
'peer'd ter be de boss, he 'low'd dey wor hongry, an' ole Mars 
he d'clar de cook dun lef um dat very minit — long wud Un- 
cle Jon'than. Den dey 'low'd dey doan' mine dat — dey help 
da self. Den de Missus she 'low'd ef dey jes wait dar a 
minit, she make out ter git dem sufBn' fur ter eat, an' ole 
Mars he ax um in de parlor, an' done poke de fire, an' dar he 
sot, honey, jes a talkin' an' -a talkiu' wid dose ar Yankees^ 
jez ez do he heep glad de wah been ober, and de niggers wor 
free, an' when Missus done sot de table, an' make de kof- 
fee, an' fry de baken, an' roaz sum taters, he gie a prar like 
he praise de Lor' da God A'mighty fur sendin' ob de Yan- 
kees, an' de co'n an' de baken, an'relieben'ob um da 'sponsibil- 
'ty on day souls ob all de niggers. Den de sojas, when dey 
done eat'n', an' kotch up da mooles, an' turn da wagon roun', 
an' stop down de road apiece, brerer Jon'than an' Aunt iSTancy 
dey wor dar wid da traps, an' dey tuck um on day wagon an' 
dey drove down ter Goodman by the railroad, whar de 
Yankee reg'men' wor, an' brerer Jon'than he stop dar, an' I 
comed y'hea, kase we 'low'd ter git wuk, an' den brerer Jon- 
than sen' wud fur our feller servanz dar in de ole Homes 
County; kase dey all foun' out dey is free now." 

The foregoing was drawn out of Pomp by the questions I 
from time to time put to him, until I had obtained the whole 
story of his escape, and of that of his fellow-servants, from 
that slavery which all agreed was annihilated at Appomattox. 

Of course I had expected to find the freed people ail poor 
and many needy. The little I had seen of them while serv- 
ing in Virginia had prepared me for that. But I had not 
realized what the words poor, needy, meant. The man before 
me was not more than thirty-five. He had a wife and five 
children. 

There he stood, a man full six feet tall, with brawny mus- 
cles and a frank, honest, open countenance. His hat was a 
mere remnant of one. His coat, made of some sort of home- 
spun cotton, had been patched with so many difl'crcnt colors. 



44 YAZOO ; OB, 

and kinds of cloth, it was difficult to make out the texture of 
the original garment. His pants, of some sort of hagging 
stufi', had received less care, for the original patches were 
worn until they hung in strings, and his shoes, broganc, of 
the color of raw hide, glazed with wear, made but a feeble 
pretence at covering his feet. 

This man, all his life, had been the slave of a minister of 
the gospel of the Son of God, and had faithfully served him. 
When the war came, his young 'master, Henry, this minister's 
SOD, had enrolled himself in a regiment of infantry, and 
served in the rebel army of northern Virginia to its close. 
He had been twice severely wounded, and had been at home 
on that account several weeks when Lee's army surrendered. 
Nearly all the young white men in his county and many of the 
old ones had rendered similar service. During their absence 
this man before me had remained, faithfully serving his mas- 
ter, and the year before the surrender he and his wife and 
his children — for they had all worked in the field who were 
old enough to do so — had planted, cultivated, and harvested 
a large crop, for which that minister had received the proceeds, 
and up to the moment himself. Uncle Jonathan and Aunt 
Nancy ran away, they had been similarly engaged. All he 
had received for this service was his food and what I saw 
upon his person. Yet this man looked forward to a future 
which, to him, was full of promise; a future in which he saw 
himself the possible owner of land, if only he could find 
honest employment for himself, wife and children in the cot- 
ton and corn fields. Neither in his speech nor in his manner 
was there any sign of bitterness toward his old master, nor 
any desire to take by force any part of his past earnings, 
nor wish to have anj' part of the land of another that he 
could not pay for, nor any disposition to ask any lands or 
mules or food from the Government, or from private citizens, 
as a forfeit or a gift. This man might beg for work; he would 
never beg for bread; neither would he steal it. He now 
appears to me as I saw him then, a nobleman in the highest 
sense of the word. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 45 



CHAriER IV. 

JEALOUS '-JOHNNY REBS " — COL. J. J. U. BLA.CK IN A NEW ROLE. 

I DID not mention the interview with my sable nobleman 
to Colonel Black or to the ladies, nor my reflections upon 
it either, while at dinner that day or ever afterward ; from 
regard for their feelings — and — well, the war was over. I 
thought it a very serious matter, however, and it raised a 
flood of apprehension in my mind, the sequel to which may 
appear further on in this narrative. I had a sort of feeling 
that it was an exceptional case; I hoped it might prove so. 
This hope was strengthened by my aubsequent experiences 
that day. For there were but very few in town who were 
not better clothed than the Holmes County " runaway.'* 
Whenever I asked the question, " why do you wish to leave 
your old master ?" the response generally was a sullen, far 
away look, or simply: 

" Ole marstab an' me doan 'gree no mo'."* 

Occasionally one would reply in plain English : " I'm free 
now and I want to work for my own self." 

As a rule this latter class were quite comfortably dressed, 
and bore the appearance of having had good treatment. 
They held up their heads and did not have that timid, shy 
look, which so many wore whose old homes were farther 
back toward the interior. 

*I was not long in finding out the importance of the form in which I put my ques- 
tions to the freed people, " Wliy do you wish to leave vonr old master?" was appre- 
hended by them as implying that they were under some sort of obligation to that per- 
sonage. 



46 YAZOO ; OE, 

The true explanation of this did not occur to me for some 
time afterward. I am now certain that it was entirely 
due to the fact that they had seen, talked with, and probably 
spent some time in the employ of Yankee planters on the 
Mississippi, or had been with the Yankee soldiers. However, 
there were not very many of that class in Yazoo then. 

Some of the ladies whom I met at the Colonel's, also his 
daughters, thought I ought not to be doing this work myself. 

" It must be very disagreeable," said one. 

" Don't you 'low to have an overseer ? " said another, '^ I 
reckon you'll have to have one." 

On two occasions, while thus seeking labor for Tokeba, the 
Colonel accompanied me. I observed that whenever he ad- 
dressed a freedraan he would say : " Here, you, boy ! " or 
" Hi ! boy." Sometimes in his blandest manner he would 
salute one thus : " Well, Mr. Washington," or '•' Mr. Julius 
Augustus," or " Caesar," as the case might be, '-how do you 
do to-day? How's your good lady ? " 

This I accepted as a hint to me not to be nice in my man- 
ner of addresssing the freed people — that I should fall in 
with the ways of the country.* I do not recollect a single 
instance when this manner of Colonel Black's was resented 
by the freed people in any other way than by a sullen drooping 
of the eyes, accompanied by a grin of submission. The Colo- 
nel, however, soon became satisfied that I was either not an 
apt pupil, or that he was not very well fitted to be my in- 
structor in such matters, and abandoned all further efibrts in 
that direction, venting his spleen in an extra number of 
oaths. It speedily became known to the planters who came 
to town, as well as to the townspeople, that I was *' the Yan- 
kee who had rented the Black plantation " — and that I was 
" Colonel Black's Yankee guest." 

Now this latter fact was of the utm )st importance: First, 
because the Black family, being of the bluest old South Caro- 
lina stock, were at the very top of the best society of Yazoo. 

*The fact is, it was intended as a criticism upon my manner. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 47 

There were those who did not like the Colonel, but there 
was no doubt of his standing. The Stockdales were in trade 
— some of them — and, though a very distinguished family, 
this fact placed them on a round in the social ladder at least 
-one below the Blacks. The sheriff, the judges and all in the 
trades or professions recognized this fact. The only rivals 
the Blacks had were the very great planters. Second, as 
Colonel Black's guest I was absolutely protected against in- 
■sult, and could go where I pleased. These facts made me 
-quite a conspicuous figure, and quite an important personage 
in the little town. 

I had not been long engaged in the work of hiring the labor 
for Tokeba before it became evident to me that my manner 
toward freed people was being unfavorably commented upon 
by the " best citizens."* 

Occasionally, some planter in town on similar business as 
my own, observing me in conversation with a group of freed 
people, would stop, and, after listening a short while, speak 
to some one he might know and ask who I was. Upon be- 
ing informed he would mutter: ''I thousfht so;" then walk 
on a few steps, halt, turn about, scowl gloomily upon us, 
.find alwa^'s turn finally to go away, with a nervous jerk of his 
head or shoulder, or some deprecatory wave of the hand, 

I well recollect once when thus engaged, a man whom I 
•shall call Wicks, because it as completely disguises his real 
name as any I can think of would. Ben Wicks, owner of 
several thousand of acres of cotton land, and formerly of a 
thousand or so of slaves, offensively and violently elbowed 
liis way right in among a group with whom I was arranging 
for their hire, and exclaimed : 

"What er you all doing y'here ? You nigros better go 
iback whar ye b'long, and quit running after these y'here 
•d — n Yankees." 

*The freed people at that time were just beginning to adopt surnames, and, out of 
regard to the custom of the country, I had purposely avoided addressing them by any 
-other title than that given to them by their late owners, as Poinp. Tom, Dick, etc. It 
was not jwssible, liowever, for me to soeoon acquire the style of address, and the man- 
Jier of the Southron. 



48 YAZOO ; OR, 

"Hi, yo black rascal !" he continued, in a still more veno- 
mous tone, if possible, and addressing a freedman in the group 
who had on a blue military cap and coat : " Yo'r kind'l be 
d — n skase about y'here befo' a gret while." Then, without 
having apparently looked at me, he walked angrily away. 

I could then no more than conjecture what the canse was 
of his indignation and disgust. It was evident that he did 
not mean to be civil to me because I was Colonel Black's 
guest. 

But few of the residents of the town then carried weapons 
exposed. Those who kept them on their persons wore them 
concealed. But a great majority of the country white people 
wore theirs strapped outside their pants, and many outside 
their coats. They generally came to town on horseback, in 
groups of from two or three to six or eight, sometimes even 
a greater number, and dressed in old Confederate gray, or 
what appeared to be homespun goods, A great part of them 
carried saddle-bags, and frequently a demijohn. 

Sometimes, as they rode out or passed by where I might be 
standing, some one of them would shout out to another, some 
epithet applied to Yankees, in a sufficiently loud tone for me 
distinctly to hear. I always construed such demonstrations, 
however, as due to a very "natural feeling" toward their 
" conquerors," and in this category I classed every disagree- 
able incident of that character. 

Another cause of ill-feeling toward me I discovered to be 
in the fact that, whereas I was succeeding beyond my expec- 
tations in re-stocking Tokeba, many old planters, or their 
overseers, were not having any success at all, and it was be - 
ing acknowledged on all sides, what indeed had long been 
feared by the native planters, that the freedmsn preferred 
to hire to the " new-comers," even at less wages tban native 
planters were offering. This fact was made a pretext for 
unfriendly criticism of the means employed by the new-comers 
to " entice the nigros from thair misters," as it was called. 

The fact is, I did not liave to use persuasion at all. My 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 49 

chief difficulty was to select from the great number willing 
to go with me the very best, and, unlike most of the natives, 
I inquired into the habit s of the men and women who oflered ; 
whether they were given to drunkenness or other vicious 
practices, and it was whispered about that I had applied 
another test, to wit, whether they could read or write ! But 
this rumor, I was satisfied, was started by some wag for a 
jest. 

All this information about my conduct reached me through 
Colonel and Mrs. Black, who appeared to watch over me with 
anxious solicitude. One morning at breakfast this solicitude 
manifested itself in open but friendly criticism. 

The Colonel began by assuring me of his desire that I 
should endeavor to make myself popular with " our people." 
He had commended my brother and myself to his neighbors 
and friends, as worthy of full confidence and respect in every 
way; and it was only because he could plainly see that I was 
unacquainted with the habits and customs of the people I 
had cast my lot with, that he ventured to speak. Then he 
told me that several of his acquaintances had spoken to him 
of the '^ unfavorable impression I had made by my treatment 
of the nigros on the street, and my manner of speech while 
among them." Some of these rumors were exceedingly disagree- 
ble to himself It was quite natural — he could understand — 
that my curiosity should tempt me " to listen to the tales of 
the nigros about their masters and mistresses," considering 
where I was raised, and that it was all new to me. But he 
regretted exceedingly to say that the nigros themselves were 
quoting me as their friend, as against their old masters, and 
if what some of them reported of my remarks to them was 
true, I was not only doing myself a great injury, but should 
be regarded by the community as willfully engaged in stir- 
ring up bad blood between the races. Mrs. Black declared 
she did not believe the stories afloat, and was heartily glad I 
was succeeding so admirably. The young ladies could not 
believe them. It was unbecoming in a gentleman, and they 
had steadily resented any reference to it by their associates. 
4y 



50 YAZOO ; OR, 

I protested I had not thought of such a thing. I had come 
there to better my condition, and trusted I might be able to 
assist in helping to develop and improve the countrj^, the 
impoverished and undeveloped condition of wliich had so 
often formed the theme of our table talks. It was impos- 
sible for me to disguise the fact, however, that I could 
see that the colored people liked me, and it would be quite 
natural for them to comment, and I had no doubt in an ex- 
aggerated way, upon my maimer toward them. I had observed 
a disposition among them to appear more independent when 
talking with me than with Colonel Black, for example. But 
it would be out of place in me to rebuke them for expressing 
dissatisfaction with their old masters, who may have been 
cruel to them, as they themselves knew had often been the 
c.ise. "But," I said, "I have not encouraged any of them to 
speak disrespectfully of any one, certainly not of ladies, nor 
would I ever be guilty of such an indiscretion, not to use a 
harsher term." 

Mrs. Black promptly assured me that she knew I was mis- 
represented, and simply by way of offering corroborating 
testimony she declared, that only the day before Major Snod- 
grass had said in conversation with her upon the same point, 
that he had frequently observed me on the street and in con- 
versation with the " nigros," and had never seen the slight- 
est impropriety nor heard the least ol)jectionable word from 
my lips. Quite the contrary. My " manner toward the 
nigros, my speech, and my bearing was always dignified 
and, though kindl}^, it was all the more commendable." 
He thought my course a wise one, if it was assumed, and if he 
could find another man just like me he would be only too glad 
to take him for a partner in his own plantation. He was sat- 
isfied he would then be able to command all the labor he 
could use with profit. Besides, while she believed the 
*' nigros" would always remain as they were, the "natural ser- 
vants of the whites," she agreed with the further opinion 
of Major Snodgrass, that they could " not too soon recognize 



ON THE PICKET LINE OP FREEDOM. 51 

as a fact the overthrow of shivery, which made it necessary 
that a new system of labor be estabHshed, and if the nigro 
was to be free to choose his own mistress or master, it would 
become necessary for their masters to treat them with some 
measure of kindness and respect. She was not sure but 
both would in the end be benefitted by the change," 

The Colonel grew somewhat nervous under his wife's speechy 
and finally interrupted her to say that the Major's " doe- 
trine was fallacious ; that if put into practice it would 
result in the ruin of the nigro, who could be governed only 
through fear, and that I should find that I was casting 
my pearls before swine, by G — d, who would take ad- 
vantage of my kindness to eat or steal me out of house and 
home." He said he knew some of the " nigros" I had already 
sent out to the place, and they were " always a sassy, impu- 
dent, good-for-nothing set; grand rascals, sir; the last one of 
them, by G — d, sir." 

Very soon after this conversation occurred, the Holmes 
County "runaway" reported himself, wife, and children. 
Uncle Jonathan, his wife, their children, and two other grown 
persons and their several children. They had gone straight 
to Tokeba, and each family had already selected a cabin. But 
they had no furniture, and had for bedding and house-stuff 
only what they could " tote " away from the old place. 
Several of their number were nearly white, and fully three- 
fourths of the remainder were of mixed blood. Those of the 
lightest complexion were quite well dressed. So also were 
two or three of the blacks. But Uncle Jonathan and his 
son-in-law, Pomp, and their wives and children were wretch- 
edly clad. They had "slipped otf" in the night. This 
appeared to be the prudent course, because several young men 
in their neighborhood had organized a sort of patrol * for the 
purpose of preventing any " rising " that the blacks might 
contemplate, since the night that the two Yankee soldiers 

* This was the beginning of that orsanization in Mississippi which afterward be - 
came known by the name of l<n-khix-klau— cliclf, cluck, clack, or the three sharp 
sounds caused by the cocking of a gun. 



52 YAZOO; J3R, 

were out there; and had whipped cue young man of the com. 
pany in a most cruel manner, because he was " found away 
from home " without a pass, and were said to have threatened 
to kill Jonathan and Pomp, should they ever show them- 
selves in those parts again. 

It was out of the question for me to provide them with 
bedding at once. I had made no provision for such an emer- 
gency. All the other families had brought their beds with 
them, such as they were. But this was not a serious matter at 
all with these pioneers. They cut cane, gathered leaves. from 
the woods and from other sources wholly unknown to me, and 
soon had beds, tables and stools. These, with two or three 
skillets the party brought with them, enabled them to get on 
after a fashion. 

I was unable to make out from their account of it just 
what a ^' rising " meant. But I had not long to wait for an 
explanation. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. ' 53 



CHAPTER V. 

A ''nigro" insurrection and a fool's errand, 

THE next clay but one following the arrival of Uncle Jona- 
than and his party, Colonel Black came in from down 
town rather earlier than usual. He asked for " Mistress 
Black," and being informed by Rose, the colore I cook, that 
'' Missus in her room, Mars Jeems," he went directly to her. 

There was an air of mysterious importance about him that 
attracted my notice. His interview with Mrs. Black was pro- 
tracted until the usual dinner hour had passed. 

When at last all appeared, they were in such an atmosphere 
of secrecy and mystery that I felt uncomfortable. Observing 
this, I suppose, the Colonel seized an opportunity, afibrded by 
the absence from the dining-room of the colored servant, to 
hint at the cause of it, which only served to increase my embar- 
rassment. 

In our table-talk previously there had been occasional 
references to the danger of negro insurrections, "now that 
the nigro is free " — a saggestio i I had always combatted, 
however. O.i this ocoaViou th3 only topic ot* conversation 
had reference solely to "sarvile insurrections" of ancient 
times, and it Wiis wonderful to see what a fund of informa- 
tion each member of this family, including Mr. , their 

guest, possessed upon this subject. 

The "Virginia slave insurrection" was brought forward, 
and discussed in all its details; "servile insurrections among 



64 YAZOO; OR, 

the Romans" were recalle:!, and tli3 Cjlonel brought to 
light, with a manner which seemed to indicate an abnormal 
appetite for blood-curdling historical incidents, an insurrec" 
tion that occurred in Tyre a thousand years before Clirist, 
when the king, the queen, the nobles and many thousands of 
the slaveholding and non-slaveholding class were murdered, 
only their wives and daughters being spared, to become the 
wives and concubines of their former slaves. 

By the time dinner was concluded, the ladies wore very 
white faces indeed, and dread expectancy hung like a pall 
over the whole household, excepting only the '^nigro servants," 
who went about their work as usual. 

Adjourning to tne sitting-room the Colonel informed me, 
after a somewhat lengthy prelude, that a plot had been dis- 
covered — "a deep, damnable conspiracy by the nigros, to 
rise and kill all the white people from the cradle up." 

The alarm among the ladies had now reached a pitch where 
one of them, who was " not a Yankee," notwithstandin g she 
was '' bred and bohn " one, and had been a governess in the 
family before the war, but now was a sort of dependent, of 
'' uncertain age," would doubtless have gone into hysterics, 
but for the courageous offer of one of her former charges to 
stand by her to the last . 

Up to this time I had remained steadfast in my skepticism. 
But the earnest, sincere manner of the Colonel and of 
Mis. Black, coupled with the anxiety and the tears of the 
young ladies, who hung together in a cluster, as if preparing 
to meet their fate in each other's arm^, lent to the spell wrought 
by the recitals of horrors to which I bad listened anew power 
that overcame my judgment, and, forgetting my previous ex- 
periences, forgetting Pomp, Jonathan, Bristol, all, I passed 
under this influence, and unhesitatingly volunteered to aid 
in defending them against suoh a fate. 

But I had no weapon. One was quickly provided, how- 
ever, by one of the young ladies, and it was discovered that 
there were in the house, besides, a pistol for each male mem- 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 55 

ber of the family, a double-barrelled shotgun and a breech- 
loadicg rifle. 

Taking " time by the forelock," the Colonel said, a number 
of " leading citizens," among them Mrs. Black's lawyers, 
had " called a public meeting for consultation, and to pre- 
pare to meet the emergency." '' Fo'ewahned " was to be 
" foreahmed with all brave people," and he said he would be 
glad to have me accompany him to the place of meeting, 
where I should learn all the details of the conspiracy that had 
thus far been unearthed. 

To this day, I am not able to say that the alarm manifested 
by every white member of the family at this time was feigne J. 
Tt was all so natural, and their conversation relative to the 
cause of it seemed so sincere, it had all the effect upon me 
of a real danger. 

I promptly accepted the Colonel's invitation, declaring 
that, in such an emergency, prevention was better than any 
cure that could be applied, and that the leaders, when dis- 
covered, ought to be tried and upon proof of guilt should be 
punished severely. 

Arriving at the place we found the meeting already organ- 
ized. There were about twenty -five, perhaps thirty, persons 
present, all white men, and residents of the town and the im- 
mediate vicinity. It had evidently been hastily assembled. 

At the moment we entered the chairman, one of Mrs. Black's 
lawyers, was engaged in recalling incidents within the 
memory of his hearers, illustrative of " the blood-thirsty nature 
of the African, when once he had reached the point of dar- 
ing to raise his hand against a white man," and he dwelt at 
some length .on the " slave insurrection in Virginia," winding 
up with a vivid picture of the " horrors of Santo Domingo." 

He was followed by Colonel Black, and he by another per- 
son, who spent some minutes in an eflbrt to show that insur- 
rections were common with " all servile peoples; " instanced 
the numerous "^'Koman slave insurrections, and one which oc- 
curred in Tyre, when the slaves rose and killed the king, the 



56 YAZOO ; OR, 

queen, all the nobles, and many thousands of the master-class, 
sparing their wives and daughters, whom thej married. He 
for one would not dare attempt to foretell the horrors 
likely to result from an uprising of the nigros of the South," 
At this point the meeting became greatly excited. But 
one of those present, whose name I cannot now recall, asked 
what proof there was that an uprising of any kind was con- 
templated by the blacks. Strange to say none had yet been 
produced, and so far as I knew, no reference had yet been 
made to the matter of proof by any of the speakers. 

This struck me at the time as being a little queer. But 
stranger still, not having been called for, I had myself 
not thought of it. I, however, had observed the similarity 
between Colonel Black's table-talk on insurrections and that 
of the speakers, who all recalled the same historical incidents, 
though somewhat unlike in details. 

At this point the chairman called upon Mr. Gosling to 
state to the meeting what he knew or had heard of the pur- 
poses of the blacks. 

Air. Gosling kept the terry at the Yazoo City landing. He 
was a little, old, '^ weazen-faced " man, with a squeaky voice, 
of the class which before the war was not more than one if 
any degree above the "poor white trash " of that section. I 
recollect well the air of importance that he assumed on rising, 
which, with his evident embarrassment, made hiiri appear 
quite ridiculous indeed. He could not sufficiently well keep 
his thoughts in line for intelligent apprehension, when he 
finally succeeded in uttering them, and would have failed 
utterly, no doabt, had not Colonel Black and the other of 
Mrs. Black's lawyers prompted him. 

lie was unable to give the names of the conspirators, or to 
say when the rising would take place. Bat he had his sus- 
picions, and they were grounded on the fact that the ne- 
groes were becoming very impudent indeed, not only 
towards himself and members of his family; he had observed 
their actions while crossing over on his ferry, ami had heard 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM, 57" 

tliem "use thirtenin words." He had also frequently '^ saw 
them talkin' together in groups," and many more were now 
using the ferry at night than formerly. 

"When called on for the language he had heard them employ 
he confessed that it was always of a "dub'ous kind." Be 
remembered that he frequently '' heerd talkin'" between 
them, in which the Yankees up the river on the Payne 
plantations were contrasted with their old masters, greatly to 
the damage of the masters, and he had " heern um swar,"^ 
and had ^' overheern um say kill with dark and thirtenin 
looks." To the inquiry as to whether he knew of the " nig- 
ros carrying ahms," he was able to speak with certainty. He 
declared, in substance that he had " heerd um say the niggers 
on the Payne pluntashons was ahmd with govment guns." 
He did not mean " Confedrit ahmy guns." And on several' 
occasions he had " crossed niggers a totin' Springfiel', or 
EnfieP rifles. Some had side ahms, an' woah Fed'ral uni- 
fohms." He had asked some of these, " Whar they b'lohged, 
an' they done sassed him — told him 'twas none yo' 
bizness." 

He had taken the trouble to find out, however, and they all' 
lived " up thar with them ar' Yankees on the Payne plunta- 
shons." He had not been particular to " demand " passes of 
those he had crossed in the day time, because in the unset- 
tled condition of the country it was impossible that all should 
have them. But he had, on several occasions, demanded 
passes of those crossing at night, and some had told him that 
"passes done played out now." 

When Mr. Gosling closed, the other and the elder of Mrs. 
Black's lawyers gravely arose, and, in a most dignified man- 
ner, expressed his regrets that some Federal officers had 
discharged thi^ir " nigro regiments in our midst" and allowed 
them to keep their weapons. The people of the South had 
"surrendered in good faith," and would " not violate their 
paroles," and while it was exceedingly annoying to have 
to " submit to such indignities," which he could not but feel 



58 YAZOO; OR, 

were imposed upon *' our people" by the " malice of some 
inferior Federal officer," such acts should not be taken as 
indicating the policy of the " Government at Washington," 
and he hoped they would not be so construed. For one he 
€autioned the people to keep calm, and by all means not allow 
their " indignation at these outrages " to lead them into rash 
or inconsiderate action. He did not see what they could do 
but submit. But it was their '' duty, as good citizens, to be 
at all times on guard," for" nigros were easily imposed upon," 
and one or two "evil-disposed persons in the community" 
could easily " excite them to acts of vengeance." Should the 
" outbreak begin," the punishment ought to be " swift and 
certain," in order to " teach them that they cannot hope to 
raise themselves above the white man and rule him." 

At this point Colonel Black, who had left the room while 
Mr. Gosling was giving in his evidence, returned, bringing 
with him a '• nigger," as he was called, though he was nearly 
white,' and, I observed, a cripple. He needed no introduc- 
tion. They all knew Dave Cottonridge. Colonel Black 
announced that Dave had important information to commu- 
nicate, and he would like the chairman to allow him the 
privilege of giving it to the meeting in his own way. 

Leaning upon his cane, Dave informed them that he had 
^' done y'heard ole Aunt Maria" say that "white folks better 
look shahp, heep mo' mischuii' in the nigro * than white folks 
ever dreamed of ; that the darkies up the river could read, 
some of them, and had been holdin' meet'ns and sayin' 
many hard things about their old masters." He also said, by 
way of a clinclier, that old Uncle Sandy (this was Mr. Gos- 
ling's ferryman) had told him that old Aunt Suky had " 'lowd 
how Unkleike " (her husband) " had 'low'd that them nigros 
over the river mighty onsartin, and wouldn't be surprised to 
y'hear the cradles a groanin' by an' by." 

During this recital the meeting became very much excited 
again, except that portion which appeared to be the leaders, 

*Mr. Cottonridge, though once a slave, had served in the Confederate army, and pro- 
nounced negro like a " real gentleman," 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 59 

and, as I afterward knew, the instigators of it. I saw noth- 
ing in the so-called evidence to justify the excitement, how- 
ever, and may have, in some way, discovered the fact to 
Colonel Black, For he arose at this juncture and explained 
that the importance of the testimony before the meeting 
could be understood onlj' by those who were " acquainted 
with the nigro character and with their mode of imparting 
to each other information relating to any common purpose 
among them." 

He cited the " records of history relating to nigro insur- 
rections, particularly the Virginia insuri-ection, frona which 
it appeared that, for sometime before it occurred, similar ex- 
pressions had been employed by the nigros." 

While he was thus talking 1 could see that he was being 
closely followed by the audience, and I observed signs of em- 
phatic approval of what he said, as much as to say: " That's 
it exactly. We know what it all means; these dark looks; 
these meetings; these speeches, with a hidden meaning; he's 
good enough to do it, any way," and so forth. I did not take 
in the situation then; not all of it, nor any considerable por- 
tion of it. In fact, I have since often wondered what it was 
prevented me from seeing through it all. I have sometimes 
thought' that I might have seen more clearly, even then, but 
for a certain feeling of gallantry all of us possess in a greater 
or less degree toward the opposite sex, and but for what fol- 
lowed. 

Having said this much by way of dispelling any doubts I 
might have of the character of these proofs. Colonel Black 
announced to the audience that there was present, by his 
invitation, one who iiad been an officer in the Federal army; 
" ray guest and a gentleman who has recently cast his lot 
with our people." He would like very much, and he had no 
doubt the meeting would be glad, to hear his views upon the 
situation. 

The meeting voted unanimously that I be invited to speak^ 
and to give them " the benefit of my advice." 1 was extremely 



60 YAZOO; OR, 

anxious to be thought well of by the people of Yazoo. I fully 
intended to make my permanent home there. I was young, 
ambitious for success, and, as I now well know, very green. 

The situation, however, was extremely embarrassing. My 
father had warned me, when I enlisted for three months, in 
April, 1861, just after the firing on Fort Sumter, that the- 
war would not close until the slaves had all been freed, and 
he dedicated me in a certain sense to that service, to fight for 
the slave — " God's poor." I had volunteered to do this; I had 
abandoned my preparations for college to do this ; I had. 
believed in the ''cause" of the negro, as against his "master," 
the white man. But I arose, and said to this meeting, 
quite tamely I am now sure, that " I had been exceedingly 
pained by this occurrence; that I had come to Yazoo for the 
purpose of making my home, in what I considered one of the 
richest districts in the world, in natural resources of soil, 
climate, and so forth, and should be found with the foremost 
in putting down the insurrection should one occur, and they 
could command my services at any time, and in any way 
deemed best to prevent such a calamity. I, however, could' 
not agree with those who had spoken upon the subject; I did 
not believe that the people who had just been ' made free at 
so great cost' would ' throw it all away by such an attempt.' " 
I was certain it could never amount to anything more. I 
was not at all convinced by the evidence before the meeting 
that an insurrection was contemplated. '' However," I said, 
" 1 am inexperienced, and know nothing by contact with 
them of the negro character; therefore, I should be advised; 
by those who at least ought to know." 

There was some stamping of feet when I sat down, and the 
chairman called on Colonel Black, whom he observed in an 
attitude as of a wish to say something, who proceeded to 
commend me for " the stand " I had taken. He felt certain 
that those " who raised him " knew best what was " for the 
good of the nigro," and best knew his character. He knew 
that they were a " dark, ungrateful, treacherous people," and 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 61 

teing ignorant as well as degraded, it would be only natural 
for the rascals to assume that their " freedom had made them 
all white," and to insist upon " complete social equality." 
As that could only result in the " degradation of the white 
race to the level of their own, it became the duty of every 
white man ta meet them upon the very threshold of their 
demands and let them know for good and all that though 
God, for some reason known only to Himself, had permitted 
their emancipation, He had, for some equally wise Reason, 
not changed the color of their skin, the kink in their wool, 
or the length of their heels," and that " these ditferences " 
would and " ought to perpetuate their subjection to the Cau- 
•casian." 

In conclusion, he did not think there was " immediate 
■danger," and, as it was evident " from the temper of the 
meeting that it was deemed unwise at that particular 
Juncture to resort to summary means of redress," as it 
might be " misconstrued by the canting, hypocritical humani- 
tarians of the North, who were just now all powerful in 
affairs, owing to the unfortunate manner of Mr, Lincoln's 
death." He would advise that the "military authorities be 
first directly appealed to for such protection as the exi- 
gencies of the occasion required, before they took mat- 
ters into their own hands." He, therefore, moved that a 
<3omraittee of three be appointed by the chair, " to proceed 
to Vicksburg and lay all the facts before the commanding 
general of the district, and beg him to send troops, in 
charge of a discreet officer," to Yazoo at once, or to allow 
them to " organize a home garrison or patrol " for the " pro- 
tection of the lives of their wives and daughters." 

The motion was adopted unanimously, and the chairman 
appointed Colonel Black and two others. But, upon request 
of the Colonel, I was substituted for one of these, with the 
suggestion that I be the chairman. I begged to be excused^ 
But the Colonel and the chairman of the meeting insisted 
that it would be but " natural for the commanding general to 



62 Yi^zoo; OR, 

heed what I might say, rather more than anything they could, 
as I was, in a sense, his comrade, and could not be suspected 
of any ulterior purpose or sinister design, and could speak 
from personal knowledge of the excited state of the public 
mind." 

Thus persuaded, I consented. A committee were appointed 
to draft the petition, and, as time was precious, they were 
empowered to place that document, when prepared, in the 
hands of our committee, without waiting for a formal approval 
of it by the meeting. Then , after appointing a " night patrol' ' 
to act "in conjunction with the city marshal and police," 
the meeting broke up. 

I found myself quite a hero by the time I reached the 
Colonel's home, where several ladies had gathered, and were 
discussing the situation. Observing their terror, I volun- 
teered to remain on guard at the house that night as an 
additional protection to the ladies. But after bedewing me 
with their thanks, they refused me that privilege, on the ground 
that I needed rest preparatory to the journey on the morrow. 
And so, after an half hour more on " the horrors of Santo 
Domingo," I retired for the night with a loaded pistol under 
my pillow. 

There was a boat at the landing early the following 
morning, and an attempt was made to charter it to convey the 
"distinguished committee" on their errand of love. But that 
fell through. The attempt, however, cost us a delay of quite 
two hours, so that it was ten o'clock before the Colonel and 
myself got off to make the trip by land. This, beins: a short 
cut, was only about sixty five miles. Seated in an old, rickety, 
army ambulance, behind two " poky'' mules driven by a "po' 
white,"' we made, I am sure, quite an attractive if not a dis- 
tinguished appearance. To cap the climax, just as we started 
it began to pour down rain, and in spite of our outside pro- 
tectors we were very soon nicely soaked. This induced my 
companion to soak himself inwardly with a different kind of 
protector that he had not neglected to bring with him, and 
which lay curled up within a large black bottle, stowed away, 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 63 

when not in use, in the saddle-bags along with other necessary 
articles for the journey, which Aunt Rose had provided 
That morning on our way down town we met several who 
had been at the meeUng the night before, and who, after the 
usual salutations, went about their business. I had not failed 
to remark the absence of all excitement in the town, and that 
the people were engaged about as usual. iSTor had the negroes 
appeared to me any more " mysterious " or " dark *' looking 
than before the meeting. Just before starting one of our com- 
mittee discovered that he ought not to spare the time from 
his business, and therefore had concluded that it was not nec- 
essary that he should go. The plan to charter the steamer 
fell through for want of the sum for its use demanded 
by the captain.* Just before darkness came on, having 
made about forty miles, we put up at the house of a planter 
by the way, who '' hadn't y'hearn no talk 'mongst my niggers 
'bout any risin'," though he " wouldn't be surprised to 
y'hear most anything, now they is free," and who, after giv- 
ing us a supper on hoe-cake, bacon, greens and cottee, and 
after taking several "night-caps" with the Colonel, gave us a 
room together for the night, in which there was only one bed. 
Being young I could stand almost anything, though it 
proved a hard night for the Colonel. 

The following morning, after breakfasting on coffee, bacon 
and hoe-cake, with the addition of a chicken, cooked with the 
bacon, in lieu of the greens, we got off early for the remain- 
der of our journey. 

Arriving at Vicksburg, one of the first steps in the direc- 
tion of the object of our mission was an invitation from the 
Colonel to accompany him in an effort to find some old ac- 
quaintances. He met several of these on the main street. 
In every instance his manner of introducing me, after the 
usual formula, was about as follows : 

" Well, by G — d, sir, he's a Yankee but a gentleman, 
and my guest, by G — d, sir. Let's take something," or,"wiU 

* There came a time when this plan of chartering a steamer whenever the negroes 
were " about to rise" was more popular in Yazoo. 



64 YAZOO; OR, 

jo' join us," or, " we've but just arrived, after a long journey 
overland in the rain, by G — d, sir, and I'm thirsty. Won't 
yo' join us ?" 

As I always refused to "join " he found it necessary each 
time to apologize for me, by saying: " Oh! he's all right. 
He'll get out of that befoah he's been with me a six month. 
He's a gentleman, by G — d, sir, and is going to become one 
of US; " or, '^ he hasn't learned ouah ways yet. He means no 
ofi'ense by it; " and he always vouched for my " standing." 

I thought I saw that these remarks of the Colonel were 
•each time in response to a questioning look of his acquaint- 
ance, which seemed to say : " Who have you here ; a 
Yank ? " and I became satisfied, afterward, that these expla- 
nations were also intended to put his acquaintances on 
their guard while in my presence. 

I observed, too, that they rarely went into a saloon, but to 
a drug or other store, dry goods or grocery ; always drank 
whisky liberally, and never, or hardly ever, paid for it. It was 
a bore to me from the beginning, of course, and as the Colo- 
nel's acquaintances were legion, as soon as I could do so 
without offense, I excused myself, leaving him to finish his 
^' rounds " alone. Alone in my room it was not long before I 
began to feel very mean indeed. 

When Colonel Black returned he was just enough " loaded 
up " to deprive him of a measure, at least, of his cunning, and 
he allowed me to see that he suspected my loyalty to our ex- 
pedition and became inquisitive. Not wishing to court a 
rupture, however, I did not allow him to see what was pass- 
ing in my mind. 

The next morning he notified me that as neither of us was 
acquainted with the General, he had acted upon the advice of 
some friends and. taken the liberty of inviting the " distin- 
guished divine," the Rev. Dr. Augustus Lobby, to introduce 
us. When this tail end to our committee of " distin- 
guished citizens," as the morning papers called us, arrived, 
we went to headquarters, for I was in for it, and obtained 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. (35 

an interview with the General. We found him in bad 
humor. He declared he had been doing scarcely anything 
for two weeks but receiving delegations from other parts of 
the State on similar business.* He would listen to what we 
had to say, but wished us to understand that his mind was 
already made up. He had no soldiers for "such purposes." 
He did not believe an insurrection was contemplated, and 
he should " protect the freed people to the utmost limit of his 
ability and authority." 

The Rev. Dr., however, was equal to the emergency. In 
the style of an ancient Roman senator addressing his captors 
— barring that ancient's deiSance — he proceeded to sketch 
a history of " servile insurrections in ancient and modern 
times." There had, as yet, it was true, been " no general 
massacre " of whites by the blacks on our soil, as there had 
been " in Santo Domingo." But the one which occurred 
in Virginia had " put the people on their guard," so that 
measures had been adopted, that had grown into "customs with 
our people," and which, by " always anticipating them," had 
"prevented a general rising of the nigros." Then he pressed 
upon the mind of the commanding general of the dis- 
trict "the greatly-exposed condition of the whites by reason 
of the abnormal state of affairs existing since the wah, and 
that in remote and unprotected country district;^, brave men, 
delicate women, tender children and dependents, on their 
bended knees, were at this moment pleading with a merci- 
ful God, while their husbands, fathers, and brethren were 
interceding with him for the means of preventing so dread- 
ful a catastrophe. In such an emergency property shriveled 
into nothingness. In his hands were the means of prevent- 
ing the slaughter of the white race, and there should not bo 
a moment's delay in applying them. He was glad to have 
the honah and the pleasuah of introducing to him the com- 
mittee of distinguished gentlemen present. They represented 

*It might bo interesting to know jnst liow lar tliese representations respecting s 7- 
called eouteniplated risings l»y tlio freed people intluenceil Mr. Seward and others in 
Mr. Johnson's Cabinet during the winter of lsC5. 

5y 



66 YAZOO ; OR, 

all classes of the people, and would be able to lay before him 
the facts upon which their apprehensions were grounded; 
and he would crave the careful and unbiased attention of the 
commanding general. He was glad to be able to add as 
an evidence of the absence of all sectional feeling in this 
movement, that one of the distinguished gentlemen, he was 
informed, had commanded a regiment on the same side as 
himself, in the late unhappy wah, and was, therefore, in a 
sense, his comrade. Surely he would hear him. The other, 
he had personally known for years as the head of a most 
interesting family, a high-toned, upright. Christian gentle- 
man, and a loyal, patriotic citizen." 

Injustice to the people of the South, I ought, perhaps, to 
tarry here a moment in order to present a clearer cast of this 
divine. For, in some respects, he was the typical divine of 
the South. He well represented, possibly a minority — but 
certainly an influential and distinguished one — of those who 
occupied the pulpit previous to the w^ar, and who did their 
share in firing the Southern heart, and uttering prophecies 
against the Union. He was a man of coarse, but command- 
ing figure; bold and loud-mouthed speech, with periods long, 
and rhetorically balanced, imperious and authoritative in 
manner, as though accustomed figuratively, and on occasion 
literally, to use the plantation lash; with rather an unusual 
development of intellectual ability, though accompanied with 
evidence of more or less subservience to the lower passions 
of our human nature. Indeed, if it be not irreverent to say so, 
a man, out of whose face and features libidinous, vindictive 
and brutal passions seemed, at turn, to be looking. The 
reader may judge of the power and influence of such a man 
before the war and during all its varying vicissitudes, as he 
stood a self-poised clerical leader to encourage the hearts of 
the people. 

Colonel Black followed. He laid great stress upon my 
" knowledge of the situation, " the '- terror of our people," 
their " helpless condition," etc. Then he began to sketch the 
'Miistory of servile insurrections," the "horrors of Santo 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 



67 



Domingo," and to describe and illustrate the " treach- 
erous nature of the nigro." He would have, doubtless, re. 
eumed his sketch of historical servile insurrections but was 
interrupted by the General with the remark, that his '' engage- 
ments" were of a " most pressing nature," and what more we 
had to say could be " put in writing." Then he abruptly dis • 
missed us, greatly to the indignation of the Colonel and the 
chagrin of the Rev. Dr. Augustus Lobby, who declared that he 
had '' small hope from the outset of making much impression 
upon /im." 

Leaving our petition with the Adjutant we withdrew, and 
soon the Colonel and I were on our way back to Yazoo. 

But all the soul had gone out of him. He could hardly 
speak without an oath, and roundly berated the whole civil- 
ized world; declaring that we had "fallen upon desperate 
times." 

But sandwiched as I had been between my reverend friend 
and my profane friend, the Colonel, the reader may readily 
imagine the relief I felt, and should have mercy. I was 
not the only one deceived that year by the same means. In- 
deed, I afterward learned that I had not only the Hon. Carl 
Schurz for company, I also had U. S. Grant. After making 
that discovery I felt better. But what was the object this 
people had in view in that " movement?" 

I ought to add that our journey back was less rapid, and, 
when at last we drove over the base of Tenariffe and into 
town after midnight of the day following, the profoundest 
quiet prevailed there. There was not a soul astir, not even 
a policeman, and as to the " special patrol," the freedman at 
the stable where our conveyance was obtained, did not know 
there was one. 

At the home of Colonel Black they were sleeping so soundly 
that it was with difficulty we could obtain entrance, and it 
was Aunt Rose who let us in. When at last I was snug in 
bed I thanked God that He had, thus early in my life in the 
" Sunny South," enabled me to look into the seciet places of 
a "kind master's " and a " repentant rebel's" heart, and to 
know, for a ceriaintv, that I had been on a fool's errand. 



68 YAZOO; OR, 



CHAPTER YI. 



AN UNSETTLED QUESTION — THE DIPLOMACY OF BABES. 

THE Colonel's trip bad been too much for him. He was 
not at breakfast the next morning. The remainder of 
the family were, and as chirrupy and careless of danger as- 
ever I had known them. I did detect an aversion to any 
discussion of the '• insurrection," however, and it seemed to 
me that they all looked a little ^'sheepish like" when I spoke 
of it. Certain it is that they had only very mild thanks for 
my devotion, and the topic of conversation that morning, as 
indeed, during the greater part of the remainder of mj stay 
there, was chiefly of their progenitors, of whom they never 
ceased to feel proud. 

They came of an old South Carolina family, and were 
able, though but faintly, to trace their lineage back to Will- 
iam the Conqueror on one side, and to an old Scotch laird 
on the other. Still, as Americans, they had never considered 
the fact worth mentioning until now, when the '' leveling pro- 
cess, inaugurated by the radicals," was undermining and 
destroying the " props that had heretofore sustained as chival- 
rous a people as had ever risen to bless the world in the tide 
of time." 

AVhile passing the usual hour or so in the sitting-room with 
the young ladies that evening, one of them, looking up from 
her crocheting, or whatever it was, with a rather bewitching 
smile playing around the corners of her mouth, and much 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 69 

mischief peeping from out the rims of her hirge eyes over 
which long lashes hung like drapery, poutingly inquired: 

" Colonel Mawgan, there weren't very many like you in the 
Yankee ahmy, was there ? "* 

I am sure I may readily be excused from recording here 
what my answer was, and my reader be content with the 
following, from the same young Miss: 

" Well, if he weren't a baboon why was he such a hairy 
man ? " This of " Abe Lincoln," and — 

" What made him love the nigros so? " and the expression 
of her face became a profound study. 

Again — 

" We all were so very happy, and ouah nigros so contented 
and happy, too! How could you all wish to steal them 
from us ? " 

And — 

" How could you all fight against we all for them ? I won't 
believe yo' did. Yo' don't look a bit like that. Paw says 
you all fought for the Union, not to take our slaves away 
from us. Yo'r not a Yankee, yo'r from the West, arn't ye?" 

Then— 

" But I can't understand it at all, anyway. I don't believe 
any of we all do. Paw was a Union man and talked strong 
against the wah, till he had to go with his State, and Judge 
Syam and paw and maw all 'low we could have kept our 
nigros only foah President Davis breaking up the Union." 

And again — 

" But what you all g'wain to do with them, now they are 
all free? They can't take car' themselves, po' things ! We 
all will have to provide foa'h them just the same as befo' the 
wah." 

Not getting very much comfort out of my responses she 
finally somewhat peevishly exclaimed : 

*^ Well, they'll always be just what they are — servants, and 
I reckon it won't be a great while befo' we'll have them back 
on ouah hands again. Yo'll see ! " 

*The war had interrupted the school training of others as well as myself. 



70 YAZOO; OR, 

Now I had seen enough of the world to know that "babes," 
oftener than their elders, speak out with fidelity not only 
what is in their own minds, but also what is passing in the 
nciinds of their parents, and notwithstanding just a hint of 
diplomacy in the attitude and manner of my fair interlocutor, 
I had an idea that Miss Sue had let out the true state of her 
own, the judge's, and her parents' views on the " negro ques- 
tion," so I ventured to ask her : 

" In that event, what will you all do with them, Miss Sue?' 

Evidently she was not prepared to answer so far-reaching 
an interrogatory, for she began to reply with some embarrass- 
ment : 

*' I — reckon — the — South can take car' of its o-wn. But 
why should that concern you all ? Paw says the Yankees 
wor' always meddling in ouah affairs, after they sold their 
nigros to we all. He ! ha ! ha ! " 

Miss Sue evidently believed that she had utterly demol- 
ished me, for, recovering her embarrassment as she proceeded, 
she broke out in a triumphant laugh at the close. 

" But, Miss Sue, you will not be able to sell your negroes 
to any one, now that the whole world nearly has abolished 
slavery," 

" Sell them !" "Why !"^ 

But I came to her relief. " Perhaps you won't wish to 
sell them when they shall have all fallen back on your hands 
again !" 

" Judge Syam says we may not be permitted to sell them 
like we all could befo' the wah, 'count of some amendment 
or other to the laws which you all g'wain to force on we all. 
He 'lows he shall be just as well satisfied if you all only leave 
us alone and let us manage them owah own way. And paw 
says you all boun' to pay we all foah our nigros anyway, be- 
cause they wor our property, and you all knew when yo' 
stole them from us that yo' had no right to do it. You all 
just wanted them for soldiers to fight we all with. 'Spect yo' 
wor tired a-fii^rhting we all anywav. No one but Yankees 
ever would have done such a mean thinsr." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 71 

Miss Sue's indignation, gathering heat from the furnace of 
my questions, was rapidly passing into anger, and her cooing, 
attractive manner had changed into one of repulsion to me. 
I preferred her other mood, and so began : 

"^ Oh, well, Miss Sue, we have all suffered by the war. 
There have been many thiugs said and done on our side as 
well as yours, that should never have been. For my own 
part I am glad the war is over. I believe these other ques- 
tions will settle themselves, don't you ?" 

Miss Sue brightened instantly. -'Yes," said she, "and 
we'll settle them foah the good of our nigros as much as foah 
our own, too, foah we all raised them and know thar ways, 
and they are used to ouah'n." 

Evidently Miss Sue could not apprehend my meaning. It 
was so with the entire Elack family. It was so with their 
neighbors — white neighbors. Black, or colored people, were 
in no sense neighbors. They were servants. It was so all 
around. 

With the former master class their former slaves were 
still " our nigros." And in the eyes of that class the freed 
people were identic^fl in character and destiny with " our 
slaves." 

The change which I had given to the direction of our con- 
versation had a most charming effect upon all present. They 
had all joined in what was going on between Miss Sue 
and myself, and had chilled toward me in sympathy with her. 
And, now that I had hung out the white flag, they continued 
to follow her. So that we soon become quite agreeable to 
each other again, resolved to have peace at any cost. That iR, 
I was so resolved. I couldn't afford strife, and could see no 
good likely to result from contending with them. 



72 YAZOO : OR, 



CHAPTER VII. 

COLONEL black's LIBRARY — A NE^V DEPARTURE — TOKEBA'S 
JAIL — MORE DIPLOMACY — A SOUTHERNER'S INSTINCTS. 

THE incidents reported in the three last chapters convinced 
me that I had been the subject of conversation with the 
people, white, light, and black, to a greater extent than any 
one ignorant as I was of their ways could have foreseen, and 
I feared it might lead to disagreeable consequences. 

I could not like the Colonel, try ever so hard. I could 
like the girls; they were so unlike the typical girl of the far 
South my fancy had created. Though not strong charactered 
like our real good Yankee girls, as I thought, they were 
nice. I liked Mrs. Black, too, though I could see that she 
was sorely tried b}^ me. 

The literature of the family library was quite ancient. 
Dryden, Scott, Shakespeare, Pope, Swift, Byron, and John- 
son were to be found there. Also Voltaire and Paine, Adams, 
Madison and Jefferson were there; but Calhoun, Webster, 
Clay, and Benton appeared to be the favorites. Besides sev- 
eral old volumes of the Congressional Globe and Agricultural 
Reports, there were works on African slavery, in defense of 
that institution, and on the origin and destiny of the dark 
races. Of course, I looked in vain for a scrap from such ad- 
vanced thinkers as Gerrit Smith, Garrison, Phillips, Sumner, 
Lowell, or Whittier, or even Seward or Emerson. 

The Colonel was a fatalist, and often quoted from Pope. 

A familiar line was the following: 

"All discord, harmony not understoood: 
All partial evil, universal good; * * » 
* * * AVhatever is, is right." 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 73 

They never had family prayers, so far as I could discover; 
and, though Mrs. Black was inclined to " high church " in her 
religious views, she rarely attended any place of worship. 
The Colonel never. Being a stranger, and everything there 
so different from what I had been accustomed to in civil life 
at the old home, I did not press upon them my wish to attend 
some place of worship. I had been reared a Baptist, and 
might have preferred to worship there with that denomina- 
tion, but the Blacks disliked the very name of Baptists. 

I could get along with the family well enough. The 
accommodations were excellent. In the parlor their neigh- 
bors, male and female, were courteous enough, and socially 
very companionable indeed. I would not " talk politics." 
The war was over with me, in deed and in truth. I was there 
to make money, it is true, but the getting of money was 
not my only object. In my view fully as much comfort, even 
pleasure, could be extracted from the getting of money as 
from the thing itself, and with much greater profit to the 
head and heart if pursued with a right motive. But I thought 
I saw trouble ahead if I should persist in my quest for labor- 
ers upon the streets of Yazoo City. Wishing to avoid that, 
I resolved to seek elsewhere for them. 

While at Vicksburg, I had heard that large camps for- 
merly occupied by Federal soldiers, were now full of freed 
people who were dependent for support upon government aid, 
and I resolved to try my luck in that quarter. 

At one of those camps on the Mississippi River, just above 
Yicksburg, I found many of Colonel Black's former slaves. 
From their number I was quickly able to select all the labor 
we were likely to need. 

The camp was on an island, where I was compelled to 
remain all night, and it was then and there, and from the 
lips of these "runaways," from Tokeba, that I first learned 
the truth about both the Colonel and Mrs. Black. 

There was no hesitation on the part of the runaways, either 
in their recognition of me or their talk about the old home 



74 YAZOO; OR, 

place, for my Jress, complexion and speech could not well be 
disguised. They took to me at once, and manifested their joy 
at the prospect of going back to Tokeba to work for the 
" Yankees," in various ways. Indeed, they had already heard 
" the wud put out " that " ole Mars Jeems h'd done gone 
rent Tokeba to de Yankees." But they could hardly believe 
" de tale, kase why! Mars Jeems wor' so mighty down on de 
Yankees, he done swor' of'n, dat no d — n Yank should eb'r 
put dey feet ont'er Tokeba. He'd shed de las' drap ob he 
blocd fus', an' meet dem all in hell's tire an' b'imstun. Fo' 
God he said it ! Kunnel, of'n an' of'n, b'efo Gen'l Herron 
com'd dat ar' way. Den we all I'f um, an' been long wid' de 
Yankees dat day ter dis. Did ye see dut are ole jail dar on 
Tok'ba ? 

" No." I had seen no jail on Tokeba, 

"Well, den, it's dah all same, 'low he nebber tote it arway. 
'Twas dar when we all le'f um, sartin. Mars Jeems nebber 
tole ye widout ye ax him, an' den he mout a tole ye hit wor 
only a chick'n coop, 'cept'n' he know'd you mount a know'd 
better'n dat. Kase dat are ja'l look no mo' like a chick'n coop 
an' it do like de ole Mars' own gret house, hit don't; an' it 
look no mo' like Mars' house an' it do like Ileb'n, I's spects. 
Fur dar no wind'us in it, any whar, an' de sides all nuth'n 
'cept'n squar, monstus logs so't de po'h nigger nebber see 
whar ler broke fro'ura. Dars ole Brister! Did yo' see Bris- 
ter ? Well, he good fur nuth'n cept'n choin' bout, kase his 
legs, ye know. Wall, Brister he mout' tole ye all bout'n 
dat ar' jail, ef'n ye ax /«w." 

This all sounded to me so like the stories I had read be- 
fore the war, and to which I had sometimes listened from the 
contrabands, who came into our camps while war was being 
fought, that I became deeply interested, and nearly the whole 
night was spent around a huge log-fire listening to the his- 
tory of Tokeba from the lips of the slaves who had wrought 
it out of the dense wilderness years before the war. 

It is truly marvellous how their association with the Yankee 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 75 

soldiers had unlocked the lips of these poor, wretched people. 
They were in no special way unlike the thousands huddled 
together in the camps in and about Vicksburg and above 
and below that place, as I could see. Merely the fact that 
they were in the deserted camps of the Grand Array, beyond 
the presence of the master class, had lent to their bearing an 
erectness, their speech a directness and frankness that was in 
striking contrast with that of most of their fellows in Yazoo. 

I had met at Yazoo City several of the old slaves of Colo- 
nel Black, and had alreardy employed some of them, but from 
none had I heard any of these stories of cruel treatment by 
their old master and mistress. 

What shocked me most, however, was the unanimous opin- 
ion of these people that Mrs. Black was more cruel and 
tyrannical than the Colonel, and their accounts of cruel 
floggings, brandings and starvings inflicted upon them 
by order of Mrs. Black were simply incredible. My esti- 
mate of that lady, based upon what I had seen in hei' 
own home, forbade belief in such stories, and I secretly attrib- 
uted them to a habit of recounting their wrongs to Federal 
soldiers, until they had learned to exaggerate them in order to 
deepen a soldier's sympathy for themselves. 

Of the numerous tales was one which painted the Colonel 
as having ordered several — I forget the number now — of hia 
slaves to be locked up in the jail, supplied with cornmeal 
and w^ater only, and then himself going on a trip to New 
Orleans, where he remained for several days with the key of 
the jail in his pocket. No one, not even the overseer, dared 
release them or give them food could it have been got to 
them, and so when the Colonel returned one or two had 
already died, some died soon after, and others were crip- 
pled for life. The cries and groans of the sufferers both 
night and day, were enough to make the whole place mad. 
But in such terror were they all of Colonel Black when 
angered, no one dared to interfere in behalf of the sufferers. 

Returning to Yazoo, I at once informed Colonel Black of 
my success, and that I had brought back his old servants. 



76 YAZOO; Oil, 

His face at once became a study worthy a master artist. How- 
ever, his philosophical temperament triumphed over his wrath 
and indignation before these found audible expression, and 
I could judge of his feelings and of the thoughts passing in 
his mind only by the lights and shadows as they alternated 
in the general play of his features. Finally, he broke out in 
a most comical laugh, and, with a round of ridiculous oaths, 
declared that I bad now " capped the climax," for of all the 
" worthless, good-for-nothing, thieving gang," there was " not 
one, by G — d, sir, froai old Aggaby to that scape-grace boy 
of Sal's, worth a tinker's baubee." 

^* Well ! well ! " said he, " I had heard they were in an old 
military camp somewhere about Vicksburg, nearly starved to 
death, and I had been expecting them to turn up befoah long 
and beg me to take them back. But I never would have 
•done it, by G — d, sir. They all ran otf in one night and took 
away with them all they could tote with the first lot of d — n 

Yankee of Federals that came to this place ! Take 

them back if you choose ! But, d — n them, they should 
ihave starved befo' I would have done it." And much more 
he said in the same strain. Spoke of his great kindness to 
them, and how ungratefully they had acknowledged it. 

That night he was quite drunk before bedtime, and the 
ladies, having been informed of what I had done, acted as 
though they felt " hurt " about something. From that time 
•on, that was a dull house to me.* 

In pursuit of further politic measures, I resolved to move 
myself to Tokeba. By this means I could not be accused of 
disrespect to my hostess, whatever might happen. As I now 
recollect, it was not more than two or three days after this 
that Mrs. Black invited me to dine with the family, adding, 
that some " prominent gentlemen " would be present. They 
were the former sheriff and a judge of one of the local 
courts. The talk from the first was almost entirely of a polit- 

* The truth is, Colonel Black was piqued because his old slaves preferred me over 
hiinselt. There had not been a time that he would not have most gladly welcomed 
them all back to Tokeba. Without intending to do so, I had mortally wounded him 
in his pride, and " wronged " his family. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 77 

ca] nuture, and after a somewhat bitter arraignment of Con- 
gress, and a general denunciation of the Freedman's Bureau 
and the Civil Rights Bill, in which all, except myself, had 
taken part, the ex-sheritf bluntly asked me for my views. 

During my stay at Colonel Black's I had purposely avoided 
taking any conspicuous part in the frequent discussions upon 
the merits of public men or measures that occurred. I had 
no taste for partisan politics. I had not been a student of 
our national nor of their local affairs. The fact is, all my 
studies in that direction had begun and had ended with 
slavery. In that respect I had been a " one-idea man " — or 
boy, for I was but eighteen when I enlisted. I had often 
been tempted to resent the frequent allusions by the Colonel 
and his family and their guests, male and female, to Lincoln,, 
as a "baboon;" Seward, ^' the traitor;" Butler, •' the beast,, 
the wretch, the reviler of women;" Sumner, "the miscegena- 
tionist ; " Stanton, "the tyrant," the "bloody tyrant;" 
Stevens, " the incendiary;" Ben Wade, " the hog," and so- 
on through the whole list of our heroes at that time. And I 
had heard them one and all equally often extol Lee as 
"general, statesman, patriot, and noble gentleman," com- 
pared with whom Grant was a "satyr;" and others of the rebel 
leaders held up as " examples worthy of emulation for all 
time." 

As, however, such speecher^, whether uttered by old or 
young, male or female, were always accompanied with what 
to me, at that time, was their antidote, viz : " but we were 
overpoiuered,'" and " we have surrendered in good faith," up 
to this time, I had been able to keep down my feelings. 
Day after day I had been in a way compelled to listen to 
opinions, all to the eftect that had it not been for fire-eaters 
like Calhoun and Toombs on one side, and Thad. Stevens 
and John Brown on the other; or, had these men all been 
taken out and hanged, as only John Brown was, the war could 
have been averted; that it was the " supeariah skill of Lee," 
and the " supeariah virtues of ouah soldiers," that had en- 



78 YAZOO; OR, 

abled the South to prolong the war against *' Lincohi's hire- 
lings/' until, " fo'ced by numbers," and " overpowered," tl.ej 
had ^' sahrendered " without being conquered; and, while 
praising Grant for his " terms to Lee and ouah brave soldiers," 
they attributed his generosity to a " secret knowledge " that it 
would " never do to drive such brave men to the wall " by 
^'sevearah terms," for they would have died to the last man 
before they would have made a "humiliating sahrendah," or 
in any way have compromised the '' honah of the South;" and 
I had held my peace, under the spell of the plea from press 
and pulpit North, that it would take time to heal the " sore 
places of the war;" and, after all, this was "but talk," often 
without any foundation other than an *' impulse of disap- 
pointment," or of " chagrin " at their defeat. It must be so, 
I thought, for, as a rule, those who uttered such language in 
my presence would apologize immediately after and beg me 
to forget it. 

Of one thing I ^^a3 certain. They were "whipped." Nor was 
there anywhere apparent any regret that the war had ended. 
On the contrary, all were glad of it, and the great majority while 
in my presence approved the overthrow of slavery. It had 
been a source of no possible " advantage to the master," they 
said, or to the country. On the contrary it had brought " only 
woes," 

The only anxiety apparent was for the " nigro." All agreed 
that his destiny " must be left to the wisdom of their former 
masters," who alone " understood the nigro character," and 
were, therefore, " the only persons competent to make the 
laws for his government," I had opinions on all these ques- 
tions, more or less formed, only I had not expressed them. 

My answer to this direct invitation to do so must liuve 
satisfied them that I was not a politician in any sense of that 
word. For as all appeared to expect an answer, I resolved 
to speak pla"nly and loyally. 

As to the Freedman's Bureau, I knew nothing whatever 
of its workings; had never examined the law, and was not 
competent to judge of the necessity of such a law as they had 
described. If there was an agent of the Bureau in the State, 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 79 

I had not met him. I, however, believed that the freedmau 
would eventually enjoy all the rights of citizenship. I had, 
as they had already been informed, been a soldier, and of 
the kind, who " ran at the first Bull Run," it was true, but was 
nevertheless able to answer " here," when the Yankee roll 
was called for the last time at Appomattox, by General Grant. 
I had not been a " hireling " for thirteen dollars a month 
during those years — though that was the pay I received in 
the beginning of it. They had, I regretted to say, miscon- 
strued my silence on former occasions. Grant, in my opin- 
ion, was an able general and a most merciful conqueror. 
B'ltler was a patriot, and the right man in the right place. 
The men who followed Grant were not hirelings; those who 
followed Sherman were no more barbarians than he, and he 
had given first lessons in merciful warfare. Lincoln was a 
truly grisat man; Sumner, a scholar and statesman of spotless 
purity of character; and all the rest deserved the thanks of 
mankind. 

I said much more and perhaps 1 put it just a little stronger 
than I have here reported I am sure, however, that my 
manner was entirely respectful and temperate. 

Mrs. Black at last came to my succor, declaring that she 
"had always more almired the abolitionists than those whom 
we termed " dough-faces," for they were false to their " sec- 
tion," and having "betrayed" the South into the war, left 
them to fight it out alone. Indeed, she wouldn't be at all 
surprised to find that after all Mr. Sumner was a " i eal gen- 
tleman." She was especially bitter toward " that tailor, Andy 
Johnson," who, as a " Southern man," should have remained 
true to his '■' home and fireside." However, he would be found 
to be " sound on the nigro question." Of this she had no 
doubt, and to my astonishment the whole company were of 
the same opinion. They felt sure that Mr. Johnson would 
adhere to his "well-known " sentiments toward the "■ nigro," 
and should it ever come to '^ a wah of races," he would cer- 
tainly be found on the side of the white man, wherever others 
of his party might go. 



80 YAZOO; OR., 



CHAPTER Vlir. 

CHARLES' RETURN — REMINISCENCES — SMOKY TOKEBA — WHISKY 
AS A MEDICINE. 

THE incidents reported in the former chapter occurred only 
a few days prior to my brother's return. Of course, I 
told him of them and dwelt signiticantly upon the temper 
of the people. He had often allowed me to see that he had 
great faith in my ability to win friends. At school T had 
always been a match for the best of my fellows in a wrestle, 
•' side holt," " square holt," or " rough and tumble." I had 
as often as any other carried off the prize in my class and in 
our debating and other societies. I had enlisted in the ranks 
in spite of the suggestion of my father and of influential 
friends that if I would wait for a later regiment I could go 
as a commissioned officer. And I had got my first promotion, 
from " high private " to sergeant, upon the request of my 
company, by a vote of fully four fifths of the privates, over all 
the corporals, of whom a majority voted for me for the vacancy. 
Therefore, he was somewhat surprised at what I told him, 
and I could plainly see also annoyed. In seeking for an 
explanation of it he " prodded " me with all manner of ques- 
tions, putting much stress upon the way in which I had con- 
ducted the financial part of the business at my end ot the line. 
Had I gone in debt? Had I paid my way? Had I had any 
misunderstanding with any of them about any of the details 
of the contract? Had I signed that instrument? Of course, 
I had paid the rent, as promised ? 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM, 81 

I was able to give entirely satisfactory answers to all of 
these interrogatories, even to so exacting and rigid an exam- 
iner as my brother. And as to the last question, I reminded 
him that I had written, informing him of the fact, on the 
evening of the day I made the payment, three thousand one 
hundred and fifty dollars — being the first installment, as per 
contract, and on the day prescribed by its terms; also, that I 
had in my letter mentioned Mrs. Black's grateful acknowl- 
edgment of it to me, as I placed the money in her own 
hands ; how she almost broke down with joy, and declared 
that it was a perfect God-send to her, as she had hardly 
known for weeks where the next day's supply of food was 
coming from, and that the first use to which she would put 
a part of it would be the purchase of a barrel — a whole 
barrel — of flour and some necessary articles for her children, of 
all which they had been so long deprived. * 

But we were in for it, and would make the best of it. 
Besides, whatever their feelings might be, they were only 
natural after all. If for no other reason, their poverty would, 
for a time at least, compel compliance with the now order of 
things. During this time, the tide of immigration which, 
Charles observed, was setting strongly southward, especially, 
the more thrifty and intelligent portion from the East, of itself 
would, in a very few years, work a complete change in the 
elements of society. Charles had no fear. There might be 
some annoyances, growing out of the natural feelings of the 
two races toward each other, under the circumstances. But 
even these would disappear with improved conditions; and my 
brother rallied me somewhat on my failure to get on with 
Southernei's. As for himself, he had found them very agree- 
able people, lie was certain they were equally well pleased 
with himself ; had already promised to time his projected 
trip to New Orleans to suit the convenience of Mrs. Black, 
who would visit that city the following week, for the pur- 

* Having no apparent income or means of support, it had been a cause of some 
anxiety to mc how they managed to live so well. Mrs. Ulaclc's confessions upon receipt 
of so much money, all in a lump, while making me feel that I had been a burden to 
them, Were, nevertheless, quite a relief Tlieir pride had suggested to them the means 
for successfully hiding from me tlieir actual condition, linancially. As to those means, 
the reader may learn more further on. 

6y 



82 YAZOO ; OR, 

pose of putting the young ladles under the training of an 
accomplished instructor in the special studies lesirable at their 
age. And so he did, and had a pleasant trip, too, he after- 
ward informed me. But though he was at the house several 
times after this at dinner, I cannot now recall that I ever 
received an invitation to go there. I am quite sure I never 
dined at the house after my experimce with the ex-sheriff, as 
I have related. 

My brother's negotiations at the North succeeded boyond 
his anticipations. He arranged with an old lumhermm to 
come down at once and bring with him his saw mill, fixtures 
and entire force of skilled hands, and very soon things were 
so lively on Tokeba that occupation banished not only the 
apprehensions which my experience during his 'absence had 
awakened, but all thought of " insurrections " or of the ladies 
whom I had so gallantly defended for the moment; and we 
were all kept as busy as our personal supervision of the work 
going on at Tokeba made necessary. 

As the business was wholly new to us and our employees 
all strangers, it may be readily seen that we really had no 
time for anything else. 

In less than ninety days things were "just smoking" on 
Tokeba, as Charles, in one of his happy veins, declareil. 
There stood the saw-mill, just where Ch.irles had planned for 
it, and it proved to be the very best kind of a site. As there 
had been no overflow to enable us to get the logs from our 
brake, we had purchased them of "up river simw/)er.s," and there 
they were, in " booms " or tied with ropes to trees by the river 
bank, in " cribs," just as Charles painted it to me before our 
parting at Vicksburg, and the old mill was just " singing 
away lively." It could be heard on a calm day at Yazoo 
City, more than two miles away. On the plantation our 
hands were doing equally well, and the best of feeling 
existed between the laborers and ourselves. Although w^e 
had been delayed by ice in the upper Mississippi in getting 
down the mules purchased for the place, there they were now, 
with plows behind them, and jolly, singing freeJmen and 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 83 

women — the women would work and liked to plow — behind 
the plows, while '' Mose " and '- Cephas " and " little Maria " 
and " Susan " " toted " water for the plow-people, and 
*•' trash-cleaners " and burners in the van. 

" Old Uncle Bristol " still kept the ferry and worked in the 
carpenter shop, repairing plow -frames or making new ones, 
while the kling-klang of the anvil at the blacksmith's shop 
kept him to his task; for the work of the blacksmith was 
crowding him. 

Altogether it zz;a5 "just smoking" on Tokeba, The mill 
could not supply the local demand for lumber, which we 
readily sold in town, delivered on the levee or to steamers 
that took it from the mill for customers at way landings on 
the Yazoo River, at prices ranging from thirty-five to eighty 
dollars per thousand feet, according to kind and quality. 
Neighbors from far and near passing Tokeba would rein in 
their horses, halt, take a look at things, and ride on evi- 
dently in a brown study. Having no leisure for entertain- 
ing them, " nor anything good to drink," we seldom invited 
them to alight* — we were busy. 

Mr. Moss, our partner from Illinois, was so well satisfied 
with the way things were going, that he returned home to 
look after his business there, leaving his interests entirely in 
our charge. 

The merchants in Yazoo City, anxious for our custom, held 
out such inducements as led us to make our purchases of 
general supplies for the place and for our hands in that town, 
instead of sending abroad for them, and their orders on us 
for lumber for their other customers often exceeded our 
weekly bills with them for supplies for Tokeba. Ours was 
the only saw-mill in operation in that region, and for a time 
proved a real blessing to Yazoo City and the country round 
about. We were not asking credit ourselves, being able to 
pay our way as we went, either with greenbacks, which 
were quite popular in Yazoo at the time of which I write, 
or with good cypress lumber, which was almost as popular as 
greenbacks. 

*This was a violation of one of the wa ys of tlic country, but it was business. 



84 YAZOO ; OR, 

Considering their misfortunes in the war and the unsettled 
condition of the country, it was quite natural that many men 
of property should not at all times have the money by them 
with which to pay for the lumber they wished to order from 
us, and as we intended to make our home in Yazoo we never 
hesitated to give credit to such persons. Thus we were able 
to confer favors upon individuals, as well as many benefits 
upon the community, and things looked rosy-hued enough 
to enable me to still further magnify the many virtues of 
my brother; his far-seeing business sagacity, particularly his 
push and grit. 

The general health of the place was good, but as our force 
was a large one, there were all the time some sick, so we fell 
into so much of the ways of the country as made it fashion- 
able to have a regular salaried physician. This gentleman 
was of the old school, a most honorable man and skillful doc- 
tor, who resided at Yazoo Citj' and made regularly stated 
visits to the place. 

Neither Charles nor myself used liquor of any kind, and 
would not have it on the place except as a medicine and 
when prescribed by our plantation physician. The doctor 
often advised us in all candor not to fail to take a stifi' dram 
whenever we got out about our business of a morning before 
the sun had time to dispel the dews and poisonous vapors 
from the river. But as that would have necessitated our 
regular use of whisky, since we were out with the sun every 
morning, we refused to act upon his advice in that particular. 
Charles often declared that we enjoyed much better health 
and greater freedom from chills and fevers, than any of those 
in our neighborhood who drank liquors. I am quite sure he 
did, and the fact was observed by others; even our physician 
sort of half way admitted that we were better oft' without 
''the stuff" than with it. But it was customary in that 
locality to prescribe it as a tonic for the prevention of mala- 
rial poisoning. On the same theory, I suppose, that they pre- 
scribed whisky for the bite of a rattlesnake. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 85 



CHAPTER IX. 

BLUSHES — MORE OF THE WAYS OF THE COUNTRY — A DEEPER 
DEEP THAN MORMONISM. 

DURING the winter and spring of 1866 nothing occurred 
to mar the entente cordiale which circuraetancea, aided by 
our saw-mill, had estabhshed between '•' those Yankees on 
Tokeba " and '' our people." * 

We were too much absorbed in our business to heed or 
care for what was passing in the political or social world. 
As yet there had appeared no social hostility toward any of 
our firm, and we mingled with our neighbors and with the 
town people with no feeling on our part that we were in any 
way specially objectionable persons. Not many of our ac- 
quaintances came to Tokeba, however; a fact we supposed 
to be due to our lack of leisure for entertaining them. 

But there were persons who visited the place very often. 
It was some time before we learned their true character or 
their object. They were females. In complexion they 
ranged from pure Caucasian, so far as I could see, to mulat- 
toes or brownskins. They were always neatly and sometimes 
quite tastefully dressed. Ostensibly they came to see old 
acquaintances among the force, and generally made some 
excuse to come to the "^ great house;" to talk with the people 
in the yard, beg a shrub or flower, or to seek information of 
" the Captain " or of " the Colonel." They sometimes made 

* From the day of my arrival in Yazoo to this date, summer of 1866, I had not 
heard the phrase "our people " used by the native whites in any other sense than one 
which embraced themselves alone. Neither freed people nor Yankees were meant to 
be included in it. 



86 YAZOO ; OR,. 

themselves quite conspicuous by passing the office as many as 
two or three times of an evening, and in other ways. 

Our office was Colonel Black's old ^' study," and stood by 
itself in a clump of China trees, separated from the family 
residence, but in the same yard. No matter which of us 
happened to be in, these visitors were sure to stop and make 
some inquiry about their " old feller-servants," or some 
trifling matter. We always treated them kindly, sometimes 
placed chairs for them, and interrogated them about their hopes 
and prospects, now they were free. 

One day when two of those women were sitting thus to- 
gether, one of them boldly exclaimed : 

" Colonel, it 'pears to me yo' are a long time taking a 
hint ! " 

Her speech was in every whit as good English as that of 
the average white lady there, and her manners equally 
refined and subdued. She was a very comely person, too, I 
have ofteh wondered why I was so dull of comprehension. I 
had never suspected what their frequent visits meant. To me 
they were all freed people. All poor, all needy — needing land, 
money, clothes, bread, meat, no more than the dignity of self- 
respect, which everywhere, in all times and with all peoples, 
has been the chief want of slaves. But yesterday they were 
all slaves, and I had not yet learned to discriminate, besides 
I had no other idea than that these people would look to the 
Yankees for light, as they had done for liberty, and while it 
was neither my business nor my inclination at that time to 
become their instructor, I could not so far humiliate and de- 
grade myself as to fail of trying to be an example for them 
in my private life and habits. Perhaps, too, my bringing up 
had something to do with it. To be sure I had been through 
the war and had seen much of " the world" for a young man. 
The truth is, however, such a thing as was about to present 
itself had never before entered my thoughts. Therefore, I 
plainly asked her -what she meant. She replied : 

" Any one might know yo' are a Yankee." 

Then the other : 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 87 

" All de Yankees not dat 'er way." At which they both 
laughed. But this left me more in the dark than ever. Being 
disposed to pursue the inquiry, I said curiously: 

" In what respect do Yankees differ so widely from South- 
erners ? " 

Then the " dark " one— 

** Colonel, is yo' married ? " 

^' iSTo; and don't wish to be." 

''Is de Captain, yo'r brother ? " 

":No." 

" Is he youah own deah brother ? " 

" Yes." 

♦* Doan yo' all fin' heap lonesome up y'here by yur owa 
self?" 

'' JSTot at all lonesome — too busy," 

" My ! Yo' Yankees nebber will hab no fun, t'wel yo' owu 
dis yar whole blessed worl' ! Yo' alwus so mighty busy 
an' peart." 

" I like to work," I rejoined. 

"Wuck! he! he! laws! Yo' doan wuck, I knows, Look 
at his ban's, Liz. " 

And Lizzie — for that was the fair one's name — 

" And see his face ! K'o mo' sunburnt than mine is, he ! 
he ! he ! Ain't he han'some ! " 

This was too much. I was not accustomed to that kind of 
fire, and couldn't face it. So, turning to my desk with some 
embarrassment, I resumed my work. 

"He ! Laws ! See um blush ! " ejaculated the " dark" one 
through her merry laughter. 

But Lizzie got up at once, blushing herself, hung her head 
and walked away. The " dark " one followed. * 

A few days after this incident, while at the " quarter " 
with medicines for the sick, an elderly woman who did not 
work in the field, the wife of one of our best hands, as I 
passed by, was standing in her cabin door. She beckoned to 
me and asked me to please come in. Thinking some one of 

* I aftcrwanl Ij.irnofl that Lizzie was tlie coiicubiuc of a white merch ant in town, and 
the dark one of a neighboring planter. 



88 YAZOO ; OR, 

the family had been taken ill, I approached h^r. She with- 
drew inside, hastily put things to right?, and in a some- 
what flurried tone and manner hoped I would forgive her 
if she was wrong; she meant only to make me happy. 
Then she explained that she had been noticing the Cap- 
tain and me ever since she ''put foot on Tok'ba." She " Lad 
'low'd to speak to me the very first chance." She was *' mor'n 
glad " Captain and I would have nothing to do with " doze ar 
town gals, 'twan't necessary." 

" Dar is jes ez good gals an' better tu, I 'spect, y'here on 
de plantation, honey." 

I was beginning to get my eyes open by this time, and 
impatiently started to leave her. 

She begged me to stop a minute, and went on to explain 
that " I must not think myself too good for de colored gals; 
'fo' God, the best gen'lemens in de Azoo County nebber think 
deyselves too good ! An' dey ha' wives too. Mighty quar, 
bein' yo' is sich a likely gen'leman — an' not one dem gala 
cept'n' dey is in lub wid ye, too ; white no mor'n de black, I 
tell ye ! I'z hearn um talk, an' I knows ! he ! 'Deed h'it war 
a mighty pity ! 'Twouldn't make no diflern' ef yo' iz got a 
gal up to ie norf whar yo' come frum, boun' ter hab one 
y'here, too; yo' y'hea' me? I knows that, honey." Then 
she bluntly asked me how I liked her " gal " Rose ? 

Now Rose was her daughter, was only fourteen, and, 
though a pure African, was one of the most perfect natural 
beauties I had ever seen. I had not then, nor have I since, 
seen such exquisite arms and hands. 

Now I understood perfectly why it was Rose had been 
sent on so many errands to our rooms, by day and by night. 
This revelation m.ide me sick, and I hastily left the woman, 
forgetting my errand to the quarter, and so was obliged im- 
mediately to retrace my steps. Having to pass the woman's 
house again, I found her standing in the same place as before. 
But this time I refused to respond to her beckoning call for 
me. On my return she came out and met me in the way, 
and, in a tone of entreaty, begged me to forgive her '' ef I 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 89 

hu't yo' feelin's, hotiey," and, by way of apology, said, she 
had never been with the Yankees before and " ha' not larnt 
yo' ways." 

This woman's husband was a preacher, and he frequently 
gave his hearers lessons in practical morality, of which the 
following may be accepted as a fair specimen: 

" Paul mount plant, Apolous wah-too (water) ; but de in- 
creaze come frum wha' ye do." 

Although he was a " reformer " amongst his people, it was 
evident that he had neglected his own fireside, or did not 
understand the Scripture he often attempted to quote. 

Thus I was every day learning; and every day brought 
fresh cares and increased anxiety. As time passed, I found 
myself asking myself : 

*' Well ! what kind of a country is this, anyway ? " 

My interest in their fate induced me to observe these poor 
people closely. There were not many like Rose's mother, I 
was glad to find, and so I learned to discriminate. Yet the 
level of morality was low indeed, and it was clear to me that 
new influences must be introduced among them ; new ideas, 
new aims, new purposes; and to that end the hopes aroused 
in their hearts by emancipation must be nourished. 

" They must be taught to think," I said. 

We had promised them a school, but had not been able to 
obtain a suitable person to teach it, and the subject had been 
deferred. 

By reason of Charles' age and greater experience, his 
attention had been chiefly called to the lumber interests, and 
it had fallen to my lot to keep the books, see to the sick, 
issue the rations, and attend to such part of our business 
in the town as did not require the personal supervision of the 
senior member. For tbis reason Charles was not in town as 
often as I, nor so well known to the people of the country 
round. Besides, I outranked him in military title. Thus 
it came about that I was recognized by the people of Yazoo 
City and county as the representative of our firm, if not the 
head of it 



90 YAZOO; OR, 



CHAPTER X. 



A DEEPER DEEP — THE WOLF SHOWS HIS TEETH. 

WE were not getting on with Colonel Black quite as 
smoothly as we could have wished. The following will 
serve to illustrate some of the annoyances to which he sub- 
jected us : 

It was not long after the incidents related in the foregoing 
chapter that, happening in town one day, on one of those 
numerous errands connected with the supplying of the place, 
Colonel Black met me, and calling me aside into a small 
court, where we were out of hearing of the passers-by on the 
street, but in plain view of a group of men lounging at a 
store front, with an air of deep mystery and importance, in- 
formed me that it was rumored in the town that one day 
while his guest I had told Mistress Black that a '^ uigro wench " 
was as "good as a white lady." 

I had never said any such thing, but resolved to keep silent 
until I had learned more of his purpose on this occasion. Ac- 
cordingly, after a brief pause, he reminded me of the pains 
Mrs. Black and himself had been to, in order that our intro- 
duction to Yazoo should lack nothing of the elements requi- 
site to insure us a good start in our new home, and of the 
high regard in which we were held by his neighbors and 
friends, as evinced by their entrusting me with an important 
commission so soon after my arrival.* All this had been due 

*This was none other than our Vicksburg fool's errand. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 91 

to US as "high-toned, honorable gentlemen,'- and was creditable 
to themselves, for they all recognized the absolute necessity 
of encouraging Northern men with brains and money to come 
amongst them if they would ever hope to repair the "ravages 
of the wah," and he was glad, indeed, to see that such influen- 
tial Yankee journals as the New York Tribune were doing all 
they could to aid the " stricken South " in that direction. 

'^ But," he continued, "ouah people are very sensitive upon 
one question, and cannot tolerate in ouah midst any division of 
sentiment upon ft, or opinion either, without tearing down 
the only props remaining to ouah social fabric, by G — d, sir, 
and consenting to the destruction of all present prospects for 
any tol'able solution of the great labor question thrust upon 
us by Lincoln's proclamation. The nigros are free, thank God, 
and not yo' all Yankees, by G — d, sir !" And I thought I saw 
a gleam of malice in his cold, grey eyes. " For even yo' must 
admit that we could have kept ouah nigros had we not seceded, 
and that we never would a done, by G — d, sir, had it not 
been for a few d — d hot-heads, who were ambitious foah lead- 
ership." Now his face began to turn purple. 

" I knew from the outset that secession was but a piece of 
d — n foolishness, and meant emancipation, and I opposed it, 
by G — d, sir. But now that he's free, we have nothing to 
hope from any policy that does not leave the control of the 
nigro to the wisdom of his fo'mer masters, by G — d, sir." 
And a number of rapid thumps with his cane upon the ground 
evinced his sincerity no less than his earnestness. '' And we 
are bound to look upon any man as a public enemy, by G — d, 
sir, I care not who he is or whence he comes, who does net 
consent to this. Yj' have had no experience with the nigro, 
and, by G — d, sir, yo' can't be expected to know the nature 
of the beast." 

Then resuming his assumed air of gentle dignity: 

"In your treatment of him, therefore, yo' must allow me 
to say yo' ought to govern yo'r conduct by the opinions and 
wishes of we all who do know him. The nigro is an animaU 



92 YAZOO; OE, 

by G — d; and by G — d sir, he must be kept in his place; and 
who knows better how to manage a horse or a steer than 
one who is familiar with his raising ? Allow me to make my 
meaning plain," said he; '' only yesterday Aunt Sukie, whom 
I raised from a child, and who suckled my children — " at 
this point his hands began to tremble, and he sobbed audi- 
bly — " came down to visit her daughter Rose.* Whatever it 
was passed between them the Good Master only knows, for 
this morning, by G — d, sir, when she brought me my toddy, 
she called me Colonel Black, The hussy ! By G — d, sir, she 
did not repeat the insult." 

And his eyes flashed his indignation. *• One of my neigh- 
bors has told me he has had the same experience with one of 
his gals, by G — d, sir; only she refused to call him ' master,' 
and has since run off. By G — d, sir, this thing must stop, 
or we all will be ruined. Only let the rascals know they can 
do these things, and it won't be long befo' they'll have their 
heels upon ouah necks, and be telling us what we shall and 
what we shan't do, by G — d, sir. It will all end in asking us 
to marry them, and then, sir, by G — d, hell itself will be to 
pay, sir-r-r-r ! " 

It was evident that the Colonel was not only losing his self- 
control, but was getting very much tangled up in his ideas as 
well as utterances, else I did not catch his meaning. 

l>uring this harangue he had stopped several times as 
though to give me a chance to say something. This time he 
halted somewhat longer than usual. But though it was a great 
annoyance to me to have to listen to his tirade, I stubbornly 
refused to say one word in response. He must have observed 
my restlessness, however, for when he resumed, it was in a 
greatly modified tone and manner, and the sardonical leer 
which blackened his face as he came to the close of the last 
sentence gave place to a supercilious grin. 

" Why," said he, " my deah sir, I recognize the fact that 
ouah ways, at first blush, may appeah distasteful to yo' who 

* It was well known in town that Rose was the Colonel's favorite concubine. But 
this I learned afterward. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 93 

wor raised on the high God-and-morality notions of Wendell 
Phillips and Henry Ward Beecher, but, by G — d, sir, it will 
be easier for yo' to adapt yo'r ways to ouahs than for we all to 
change. You must be governed by the example of the apostle 
of old and while in Rome do as Romans do, by G — d, sir-r-r. 
Why, sir ! must we surrender our cherished theories and 
dearest interests to please a handful of Yankee immigrants, 

by G — d, sir-r ? By 1 beg yo' pardon, sir, those who come 

amongst us ? No, sir-r-r, by G — d, sir-r-r-r-r." 

Still no response. 

Then despairingly he again resumed, but in a whining tone: 

" We were prosperous and happy, and at peace with ouah 
nigros and all the world, before a lot of d — d fanatics took it 
into their heads — got an idee, by G — d, sir — that slavery was 
wrong. Wrong hell ! The nigros wor' never so well ofi' in 
Timbuctoo or any of the wilds of their native jungles as with 
us, by G — d, sir-r-r-r. Wrong be d — d ! And pretending to 
have had an inspiration — inspiration hell! and that they wor' 
commissioned by God A'mighty to destroy it, by G — d, sir — 
that shows that they were fanatics — with a little handful of 
our impracticables like Calhoun and Bob Toombs, of Gawga, 
fell into a rage over the discussion of abstract questions, and 
drew the whole country after them like so many sheep, by 
G — d, sir-r-r. I knew it would end that way, and was in 
favor of hanging the last one of 'em, by G — d, sir. And if 
we'd a had a king instead of an old jackass in the President's 
cha'r at Washington, we'd a done it too, by G — d, sir-r-r-r. 
Wrong! why, by G — d, sir, the nigros wor' barbarians. 
They knew nothing — could no more than chatter like so many 
monke.s, by G — d, sir, and we were not only christianizing 
them, we were educating them for the only thing they'll ever 
be any account fob; servants, by G — d, sir-r-r. I tell yo' sir, 
now as then, the prosperity of the country and the peace of 
this Union depends on we all being left to manage ouah nigros 
in ouah own way, by G — d, sir-r-r-r-r-r." 

But as the Colonel was likely never to let go, and the situa- 



94 YAZOO ; OR, 

tion was becoming too monotonous to be longer endured, I 
gave way and exclaimed, rather impatiently I fear: 
" AV ell, who has proposed to hinder you ? " 
This staggered him. But he quickly rallied, and a smile 
lit up his sinister countenance as he sneeringly replied: 

*' Well, sir, by G — d, sir, yo' may not understand the efiect 
of youah own example. It was only a few days ago that 1 
saw you as I passed by Tokeba at work with some nigros 
repairing a fence. And Mistress Black says that the other 
day she drove on to Tokeba to see how things wor' going, 
and, by G — d, sir, yo' brother was working at the mill with the 
nigros, and came to speak to her in his shirt sleeves, by G — d, 
sir. I learn that you all allow yo'r nigros to call you Colonel 
Morgan. By G — d, sir, they shall call me Master ' Besides, 
it's all over town that jo' have been heard to call youah 
blacksmith's wife Mrs. Smith. Mrs. hell ! By G — d,8ir, this 
must be stopped or yo' all will be ruined." ]^ow he was in 
a passion again. When it had partly subsided he contiimed: 
" Mistress Black and I have made every excuse for you all 
that we could think off to allay the apprehensions of ouah peo- 
ple. If their fears are allowed to grow it may lead to disas- 
trous consequences. You alone can correct this state of things. 
For yo' and youah brother not only have the appearance and 
manners of gentlemen, by G — d, sir, yo' have the stand- 
ing also. It is that, by G — d, sir, that makes yo'r exam, 
pie so pernicious. Yo' all are quoted everywhere as the 
iiigro's friend. Friend hell J It will not be inconsistent, 
yo'U allow me, with the dignity of a gentleman, nor with 
even youah notions of things, to publish aceahd* over youah 
own name, denying yo' meant in whatyo' said to Mistress 
Black, that a uigro was as good as a white gentleman,! that 
will set everything straight. For Mistress Black and I'll 
take good car' to explain your treatment of yo'r nigros. It 
is not to be expected that you all can get accustomed to ouah 
ways all at once." 

* Why publish a card ? We may see farther ou, 
t He was getting mixed again. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 95 

At this point he ceased speaking, and it was again more 
than evident that he expected me to say something. But I 
had resolved not again to break silence, and he resumed 
savagely: 

*^ As youah friend and well-wishah, by G — d, sir, I deem 
it absolutely necessary for yo' to publish some so't of denial 
of such d — d stories as are floating around, by G — d, if you 
expect to live among our people in peace, sir-r-r-r-r-r." 

This sounded too much like a threat to admit of further 
seeming indifl'erence on my part, so I said: 

'• Colonel Black, you say the negroes are free ?" 

" Yes, by G — d, sir," he exclaimed excitedly. 

" "Well, you'll grant that I am a free man, too, will you 
not?" 

" Well, sir, by G — d, sir, what d'yo' mean, sir-r-r-r?" 

But I kept cool, saying only: 

" W3 h)ld the lease of Tokeba for three years fro.xi the 
legal owner on a contract to pay a certain a.mual rental. "We 
have paid the rent according to contract, and we have a 
right to the management of that place. I grant to you and 
to all the right to control your own labor in your own way 
without interference from toe, I claim for our firm only such 
privileges as we cheerfully aicord to othars. We believe 
that we can get more and better labor for the same money 
out of onr hands by treating them as though they too had 
rights" — at this point th3 clouds began to deepen on his 
face — " than if we treated them as though they were brutes." 
And now he leaned with both hands upon his stick — a heavy 
hickory — in front of him, trembling with wrath. " We have 
meant no more by it than our similar treatment of white 
men would mean." Now he began to grin. 

" We have not dreamed that it would be considered revo- 
lutionary, nor even thought of it in that liglit. But we may 
as well understand each other on this subject. I am sure that 
no member of our firm is sorry for what we have done in 
this regard. Recollect, it is our money, not yours, now run- 



96 YAZOO; OR, 

ning Tokeba. "We recognize the obligation each individual 
member of society is under, so to conduct himself that he 
shall not jeopardize the good of others while pursuing his 
own ends. Therefore, we shall make no display of our 
views or example; at the same time we shall not hide our 
light under a bushel. We shall continue to treat our people 
as though they were worthy of their hire, so long as they 
shall continue so, in our opinion; and a large shire of a 
laborer's hire is respectful consideration from his employer." 

At this point the Colonel grunted out '' bah ! " but I con- 
tinued: 

" We shall never forget that Mrs. Smith is a member of 
our community, nor can I understand why we should be 
disturbed in our lawful and peaceful pursuits by reason 
thereof." 

The Colonel was completely beside himself. While listening 
to me he had grown red and white by turns, and as I con- 
cluded, he leaned forward on his cane, while his hands trem- 
bled as with palsy in his effort to control himself. The 
muscles of his face relaxed until a fiend-like grin appeared. 
Then turning on his heel he left me, with the simple taunt: 

"Well, by G — d, sir; as you make yo'r bed yo' must lie. 
I took yo' for a gerdleman; yo' are only a scalawag.'''' 

As I passed out up the street the group of men by the store 
uttered deep groans. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 97 



CHAPTER XI. 

LAMBS — I'm a gentleman, BY G — D, SIR — A NEW FUNCTION FOR 

NASBY. 

WHILE relating the foregoing confab with Colonel Black 
to Charles, I thought I detected a slight accent of dis- 
appointment in his tone and manner — perhaps it was petu- 
lance. He had himself lost much of his trust in the sincerity 
of their welcome to us. But he told me that he had called 
on Mrs, Black only a day or two after her visit to the place 
and apologized for his inability* at the time to extend to her 
such courtesies as the occasion required. She had assured 
him, however, that no apology was necessary, and in proof 
of the sincerity of her approval of his close attention to busi- 
ness instead of leaving it to others, informed him that she 
had resented a remark by one of her acquaintances, who, 
when Mrs. Black related to her the incident, exclaimed — 
" Working at the mill with his nigros ! — came out to speak 
to you in his shirt-sleeves! — how dure he! Why, I thought 
he was a gentleman I!" and Mrs. Black declared to him she 
had given her friend to understand that she admired " Cap- 
tain Morgan all the more for this very independence," and 
she had suggested to that friend that Southern gentlemen 
would do well to follow his example. 

After some further discussion as to the significance of Col- 
onel Black's harangue at me, he came to the conclusion that 

* The log-carrier was ofl' its traclc. 

7y 



98 YAZOO ; OR, 

the " old fellow " must have been drinking more than usual ^ 
and it would not be worth our while to heed his " nonsense." 
"But why should they groan after me, Charles?" 
'*0, well! let's not talk about it," said he, " 'twon't amoun 
to anything. You'll see." 

At the outset everybody had said we should not be able 
to get on without an overseer. The overseer was an indis- 
pensable auxiliary to a plantation force, everybody said — 
except the freed people, whom we had neglected to consult. 
So we had employed one. But it was not more than a week 
or two, however, after the interview which I have related 
with Colonel Black that the overseer began to complain of 
Uncle David and his family — said they were '' lazy, sassy, 
and good-for-nothing." And shortly after this Uncle David 
began to hint that — 

'''Peers like Mr. Small wuckin' the crap mighty quar," 
and — 

" Low! Mr. Small nebber make a crap b'fo' dis y'ar. Can' 
fool me." 

He would have spoken of it before, only he didn't know 
whether we would " 'low " him to. And, later on, the over- 
seer — 

" That 'ere d — d nigger Dave ought 'er have some old time 
dis'pline; heap mischuf in that nigger; I'd like ter gie' 'ini 
'bout fohty lashes on his bar' back, well laid on ; 'twould do 
'im good." 
And shortly after this Uncle David : 

" Mr. Small g'wain ter ruin de crap, kase he doan put de 
dut up fast nuif. On some whar' hit need mo' dut he done 
tro'it away, an' whar hit doan need de dut now, he jest pile 
it up an' smothrin' de cotting."* 

With such perplexities, added to our ordinary trials, the 
time passed until the summer was gone, leaving us no time 
at all for anything else. In the fall the yellow fever and 
cholera broke out in New Orleans, spread rapidly to Vicks- 
burg, and cases were reported in Yazoo City. During this 

*\Ve were never fully satisfied that David was wrong. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 99 

time we were in town but little, and there appeared to be a 
suspension of Colonel Black's hostile demonstrations to';vard 
us. The delay in getting- our mules made us late with the 
planting. The year had not been a good one^ either. From 
all these causes it was apparent the crops would be a failure, 
or nearly so. 

Although Charles received no more invitations to dine 
with the Black family, he attended to the conduct of all mat- 
ters of business with Colonel or Mrs. Black, so that ever 
after Colonel Black's unsuccessful attempt to make me pub- 
lish a "ceahd," I seldom came in contact with any of them. 
Apparently, therefore, all social relations between the family 
and myself had been sundered. 

But this was the least of my troubles. I felt no special sor- 
row on account of the gulf, or rather I should say, on account 
of the incidents which had discovered to me the gulf, existing 
between the Blacks and my brother and myself. Indeed 
I preferred that it should remain open, I felt sometimes 
more like placing a danger-signal to mark the fact rather than 
to make any effort to cover up, or even to bridge that gulf; 
for I felt certain there could be no peace between us and 
them without our unqualified surrender to their wishes and 
" ways." But there still remained a doubt in my mind 
whether the Black family truly represented the sentiments 
and convictions of the best citizens of the place. Charlas was 
certain they did not, and was equally emphatic in the asser- 
tion of his opinion that Black was a '^ harmless, drunken old 
coot," whom no one would follow and no decent man could 
respect. There were the Stockdales, Major kSnodgrass, Judge 
Isam, and others, all men of temperate habits, and good 
morals, substantial citizens. Surely such men would never 
follow the leadership of " old Black." 

We had not intended to credit out much lumber, nor did 
we. But it was quite impossible to decline the orders of 
men who appeared to be large property-owners and of gilt- 
edged business reputation, higli-toned, honorable gentlemen, 
aid by fall we had out several bills of this character. In all 



100 YAZOO ; OR, 

such cases it had been our custom to ask payment whenever, 
from any cause, we were in need of money. We did not 
always succeed in getting it. Some of it remains unpaid to 
this day; but that is of no consequence now. Even then the 
fear that we might never be able to collect it was of less con- 
sequence than some other things which I will here endeavor 
to illustrate. 

It was late in the fall, after quite a severe and prolonged 
'^ spell of the ague," and while E was barely able to ride on 
horseback. But Captain Telsub's bill was overdue. "We 
needed cash; and so I called at that gentleman's drug store, 
and presented our bill to hira. He had received the lumber 
and alreadj^ put it to the uses for which he intended it. He 
was in his counting-room at the time, received me pleas- 
antly, and, saying that they were short of funds just then, 
beffsred me to send or call asrain. I informed him that he 
need not ^' put himself out " to pay the bill at once, but to 
indicate when he would be prepared to meet it, and I would 
cheerfully oblige him. 

I am sure there was nothing in my manner to betray any 
doubt of his intention to pay, for I had none; nor did his 
manner discover to me any resentment on his part. It was 
arranged that 1 might call or send for the money at any 
time after the Saturday following, and I bade hini good-day. 

Passing out upon the street, on my way to the post-office, 
I had not gone more than half the square, when I heard my 
name spoken, and some one walking quite rapidly behind me. 
I half turned, stopped, and, leaning on my sun-shade, which 
I was at the time using as a cane, waited until he came up; 
for I saw it was the Captain. Although he appeared a lit- 
tle '•' flustered," there was no show of violence in his manner. 
But, as he came nearer, his face grew red, and he began: — 

" What in the hell do you mean, you Yankee s — of a 
b — ? By G — d, sir, I'll have you to bear in mind that I 
pay my debts; I'm a gentleman, by G — d, sir, and if you 
don't know it, I'll teach you how to conduct yourself toward 
one, d — n you." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 101 

Xow, this sudden and unexpected assault quite upset me, 
I was a non-combatant; had been brought up by parents who 
believed in the law of love, and in the power of gentleness 
and truth to protect the innocent anywhere. I had never 
raised my hand against any human being. 

But had it been otherwise, in my feeble state I could have 
been no match for the large, po^verfuUy-built man who now 
confronted me with his great fists almost under my nose. 
Almost in mortal terror I replied in a half-dazed sort of way : 

" Well, sir, a gentleman would hardly assault one in my 
condition in such a manner as this." 

But before the sentence was uttered, he hit me such a blow 
under my ear that I fell to the pavement. Then he jumped 
upon me and continued his strokes upon my head and face, 
while the crowd of '' gentlemen," whom I had observed in 
and about his store as I came out, gathered in a sort of a ring 
around us, shouting : " Fair play, here ! Fair play ! Kill the 
d — n Yankee ! Kill him, d — n him." 

But at this juncture the ring parted, scattered, and the post- 
master, who had been a Federal officer, in company with two 
other Yankee ex-army officers, who were planting near our 
place, rushed in, picked me up, and carrying me to the post- 
office, washed the blood from my face, '• poured oil upon my 
bruises," and, after doing all they could to comfort me, in- 
sisted that I must abandon my puritanical notions there, and 
never be seen in public without weapons of some sort; that 
they carried them, and they had taken pains to let the fact 
be known-; that I would not have been attacked had it been 
known that I was armed, etc. 



102 YAZOO; OR, 



CHAPTER XII. 

A COUNCIL OF LAMBS — THAT " NIGGER SCHOOL " — " OLD MOR- 
GAN" — " POLECAT MORGAN." 

THAT nightjWMle we sat by the great lire-place in our sitting 
room in the old ^* mansion " on Tokeba, overlooking the 
turbid Yazoo, sullenly winding its way through the gloaming, 
I gave Charles an account of this '^ alFair " with Captain 
Telsub. Many things had occurred of an unpleasant nature 
during the few months that had passed since we began house- 
keeping on Tokeba — Charles and I — which I had not cared 
to mention, remembering his predilections. 

But the situation, it appeared to me, was becoming critical, 
and I could no longer hide my anxiety from him. I had 
observed a change in his manner of late, ho nqyqv, as I thought; 
an absence of that buoyancy of spirit which had character- 
ized him at the outset, and this evening he seemed more 
abstracted than usual. For some minutes he had been sitting 
square in front of the fire-place, steadily looking into it, and 
whistling some unknown air in a pitch that was barely audible. 
I had been wondering what sort of " spell " it could be that 
had overcome him, when one of our carpenters, a white man, 
who had formed quite an extensive acquaintance among the 
loungers in town, called, and being seated, Charles said to 
him: 

*^ Tom, I wish you would tell the Colonel what you have 
told me." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 103 

^' Well, Cap'n, there's no more to it than I've told ye 
already, unlessit's my opinion you want." 

'' Well, let's have your opinion, then." 

'* I think they'll raid the place."' 

" Pshaw ! " said Charles, '' you don't believe that, do you ? 
What has put that into their heads ? " 

" Well, Cap'n, they all treat me well enough — always 
have, 'cept'n when that bully tried to make me say that if 
you was bound to build that nigger school -house, I'd bolt and 
not strike a lick on it." 

Thus I soon found out what the trouble was. Some days 
prior to this, Charles had told me of a contract he had made 
with a commissioner of the Freedman's Bureau to furnish 
the lumber for a school-building in town, for the freed peo- 
ple. 

The situation was this : The freed people had long been 
anxious to have a church of their own, but did not feel able 
to pay the cost of such a one as they desired. This commis- 
sioner had seen and arranged with their leaders to contribute 
to the cost of one, if they would consent that it might also 
be used as a school-building.* In furtherance of this plan, 
Charles, after consulting with Mr. Moss, had subscribed lib- 
erally to the fund. 

The building was to be an addition, merely, to the little 
old shanty previously occupied by them, and was not to cost 
above $1,200; a plain, board structure. The tirst raft of 
lumber for it had already been floated down the river to the 
Yazoo City levee, and piled upon the bank. It had been 
arranged that building operations should commence at once. 
But as the Bureau commissioner could get none of the 
mechanics in the place to do that part of the work " for love 
or money," Charles had contracted to have our carpenters do 

* Sometime afterward I learned that a movement had been for some months under 
way among the freed people, looking to their separation from the "white folks'" 
churches, where their position had always been a servile one, and that the wliite 
folks had been making very strenuous exertions indeed to prevent such a result. Tlicy 
were not willing, of course, to receive their former slaves into full Christian fellow- 
ship, nor were they willing to tear down the railing in their places of worship which 
marked the arbitrary line that the master-class had drawn between white and black 
worshippers. They wished them all to continue, at least in their worship of God, the 
same as " in the good old days bcfo' the wah,'' 



104 YAZOO ; OR, 

it, and Tom was bossing the job. In Tarn's opinion, they 
were going to raid the plantation, hoping by that means to 
remove the cause of "this outrage," as they were pleased to 
term it. 

They had at first threatened to " kill any d — d Yankee 

s — of a b " who would "^ dare to strike a lick" on such a 

job. But there were six of our white mill hands, all told, who 
had been in the Federal army ; they were " heeled,"* too, and 
were not going to be '' blutted." 

That very day they had laid the foundation and com- 
menced to build. None of them had been harmed, however, 
and Tom's opinion as to the purpose of the " rebs," as he 
called them, to " raid Tokeba," was based on remarks he had 
heard made by a crowd of loungers who had hung about 
there the greater part of the day. 

While this talk was going on between Charles, Tom and my- 
self, Uncle Stephen called with a long story about what one 
of his " feller-servants of slave time " had overheard between 
his young masters, the substance of which was, that the Yan- 
kees must be all "driven out"or the country would be "ruined," 
and something about a plan to "raid the Morgans."! 

Uncle Stephen's fellow-servant lived with his old mas- 
ter in Holmes County, twenty-five or more miles away. 

While Stephen was making his "report," two of our Yan- 
kee neighbors dropped in and soon after another. One of 
them had been an officer of negro troops and afterwards of 
the Freedman's Bureau. The feeling against him had be- 
come so bitter that he did not often venture to town. He 
related to us instances of outrage upon himself, which, 
though not amounting to violence, satisfied him that his life 
was in peril. And from what he said, it appeared that upon 
one pretext or another, all the other Northern settlers in the 
neighborhood had been grossly insulted. 

In reply to Charles' inquiry as to the probable cause of all 

* Armed with pistols. 

t The kuklux germ in that county had been developing. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 105 

this feeling, the ex-bureau officer declared it had all the time 
existed, and was open now only because of the fight between the 
President and the known leaders of his party; that the rebels 
felt sure of Johnson's secret, if not open encouragement, and 
believed they would have to hold out but a short while before 
he would be able, by a judicious use of his patronage, to 
control Congress when it should assemble. This Yankee 
neighbor had a correspondent in Washington who kept him 
posted in such matters. 

Brother Charles and I had heard that there was a differ- 
ence of some sort between the President and the national 
leaders of the Republican party, but had not followed it up, 
and knew nothing of its scope or probable effect. We bad 
given no thought whatever to politics. We had neglected 
to subscribe for any of the Northern journals, or local papers 
for that matter. The fact is, we had given ourselves wholly 
to our business, and had no time for anything else. 

All agreed that the assault upon me was likely to be re- 
peated, and that other Northerners were in equal danger. It 
was also agreed that the crowd had scattered on the approach 
of the postmaster and friends solely because /le was a Yankee 
in office and supposed to have influence. He had been ap- 
pointed during the " era of good feeling,'' and because no 
one else having the requisite capacity for the office could be 
found who could take the required oath. They had no fear 
of the Northern settler oat of office. He was not so likely to 
have " influence with the Johnson administration." The ex- 
bureau officer attributed his security thus far in part to the 
fact that the postmaster was his partner in planting. 

When all were gone, I asked Charles what he thought o^ 
the situation ? After a long sigh, he told me he felt that it 
was becoming serious; that the '' bureau man" had returned 
to Vicksburg for the purpose of having an agent stationed 
in our town at once, and, if necessary, troops, to prevent 
actual interference with the building of the school-house, 
which, he declared, was imminent. Then he told me that he 



106 YAZOO ; OR; 

went down with the first load of lumber for the school-house 
and that their arrival had been heralded through town, where 
he found the feeling against him was so bitter he was hooted. 
They had called out after him, as he passed up the tnain street, 
" Old Morgan"— " Old Yankee Morgan !" "Hi!" and " Pole- 
cat Morgan ! " 

Within a very few days after this event, a number of re- 
volvers found their way to Tokeba, and, as the hands had 
been given to understand that we had no objections to their 
having weapons, Uncle Taylor brought out his old army rifle 
and handled it with such dexterity and skill in the manual, 
of arms, that he became quite a hero at Tokeba. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 107 



CHAPTER XIII. 

TAFFY, WOMEN AND WINE VS. THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES 
— THE STRAW THAT BROKE OUR CAMEL'S BACK — A STALWART 
FRIEND. 

NOT many days after the incident which closes the fore- 
going chapter, a squad of Federal troops arrived at Yazoo 
City. It was understood that they had been sent there by 
direction of General O. 0. Howard to prevent interference 
with the erection of a school-house for the freed people. 

The angry, snarling wolves all at once became lambs, in 
manners and appearance, and the proud " American eagle" 
ruffled his own feathers until they stood erect, in indignant 
protestation against the " outrage " put upon " we all best 
citizens " by the hostile presence "in ouah midst " of'' ahraed 
soldiery" in a time of " profound peace." The officer in com- 
mand of the squad was something more than " a gentleman, 
by G — d, sir," he was " discreet." From the moment they 
"sot eyes onto him" and got a glimpse of his face Yazoo's "best 
citizens," females and males, began to coddle him, and dined 
and wined that "discreet Yankee ahmy officer," ad nauseam 
for us, though as the sequel proved greatly to his delectation. 
They were powerless to prevent their coming, now they 
were there. Therefore it would be the part of wisdom 
to make the visit of these " Yankee soldiers " as harmless as 
under the circumstances would be possible. Secretly they 



108 YAZOO ; OK, 

cursed General Howard and held him, not Mr. Johnson — it 
was Mr. Johnson now — responsible for the '^ outrage." But 
to this officer thej spoke of General Howard as a most pa- 
triotic, gallant, and worthy gentleman, " no doubt." And 
they insisted that he had been " misled " in the matter by 
the representations of his agent, who, they declared had 
^' sneaked in and sneaked out " of the town after " mixing " 
with the " nigros " and had not consulted the '^best citizens " 
about the school for " our nigros." They hotly and with 
great indignation denied that they had attempted in any 
way to interfere with " the people," who were at work on the 
school-house — they had never thought of such a thing ! On 
the contrary they had long seen the "necessity for just such 
a building," and had striven to induce " our nigros " to save 
their money and build one. But " the nigro," as " everybody '' 
knew, was an " improvident creature at best," and besides, 
lacked the " capacity to plan " such an enterprise or to carry 
it out after it had been planned " for him." 

" No such reports," they said, '' would ever got out about 
Yazoo County" had it not been for a " pa'cel" of Yankee 
*^ adventurers " who were " scheming " to gain the confi- 
dence of '^our nigros" only " to fleece them." 

" The wah is over, and we all have surrendered in good 
faith," said they further, " and the presence of these soldiers 
is a reflection upon ouah honah, by G — d, sir," and — 

" We all are too po' to take upon ouah own selves " the 
cost of educating them. 

" All our nigros free now, as we all are," and it was but 
natural that they should be " only too happy " to have the 
aid of the " General Government" in the schooling of' our 
nigros." 

I have no doubt these arguments would have taken efl'ect 
upon this officer without the aid of wine. As it was the 
wine or the women — or perhaps it was his inherent *' cussed- 
ness" — kept him aloof from the freed people, and from " them 
Yankee adventurers up the river." In fact he failed to call 



tDN THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 109 

apou any of the Northern settlers in the region, and his 
time was so taken up by the best citizens that he had none 
to spare the " adventurers." 

Then, too, Colonel Black and his friends managed the 
whole thing so adroitly there was perfect peace in Yazoo; 
there were no longer anywhere apparent any signs of ill- 
feeling towards the negroes; no groups of angry, threatening 
whites at the landing when a raft of lumber arrived for the 
"nigger school;" nor about " the people " who were at work 
on the school-house that was to be, and Charles declared that 
he could walk all the way from the levee to the post-office 
and not hear his name called nor yet a polecat's. So, with- 
out consulting with us, or with ihe ex-bureau agent, or 
with any of" we all Yankees," so far as I was able to learn, 
this very " discreet " officer of the United States army re- 
ported to his superior that there was no need for him or his 
soldiers there, and he and the,7 were soon afterward recalled. 
But our point had been gained. The building had been com- 
pleted and a teacher, furnished by the Bureau, duly installed 
before the officer could " tear himself away " from such 
" hospitable, high-toned " people as welcomed him — and was 
he not a Yankee ? — to Yazoo City. 

Thus the plans of Tom's " rebs," instead of being executed 
on Tokeba, or on the " nigger school," had been " toted " out 
on the shoulders of *' high-toned, chivalrous, honorable. 
Southern gentlemen," and in the laps of fair women, and 
buried; yes, buried; for those troops were regulars, 

I felt that I was rapidly finding out more of the ways of 
Colonel Black and his friends, than it was well for my peace of 
mind to know. But there was one feature of their recent 
exploits, when taken in connection with the object of my 
" fool's errand," that puzzled me above any other in the 
course of my experience there up to that time. In the former 
instance they had acted as though extremely de^rous of hav- 
ing Federal troops sent to Yazoo. Now, they were extremely 
anxious that they should be kept away, and appeared to feel 



110 YAZOO ; OR, 

themselves wronged by their presence. In the former in- 
stance they had harnessed me into their traces in a laborious 
effort to obtain them. Now, they held me in a measure re- 
sponsible for what they termed the " outrage " inflicted upon 
the " best citizens " of the county by their presence in it. 

"What could it mean ? 

Less than one year before these same best citizens — and 
they were so held — were pleading with the commanding 
general of the district for these very troops, and for just 
another such officer to be sent there for the prrpose of pro- 
tecting the " white " women from enforced marriage with 
"nigros," and the '*■ men, women, and children, from the 
cradle up," against a " deep, dark, damnable plot," on the 
part of " our nigros," to " rise " and kill them all. 

Then they had been able to make a "tool," if not a fool of 
me, and had enticed me into the fire after their scorched chest- 
nuts. They had found me out now, and, if *'we all Yankees'' 
had not yet learned their ways thoroughly enough to enable 
us to detect their point of departure from ours, I had, the 
ex-bureau agent had, some others had also, and Charles was 
in a fair way of doing so. Therefore, they had no use for 
the troops now. Their presence was a " menace." But was 
it because they had found us out, and we had learned too much 
of their ways to be further deceived ? 

Although at that time I was only a beginner in the study 
of the castoms and laws of Yazoo, I was fully aware of the 
fact that it had always been unlawful to teach a negro to 
read and write. That was an historical fact. If not still un- 
lawful, the fact was due to the power of the United States. 
I had abundant evidence of the respect the best citizens 
of Yazoo had for that power, when made manifest to them 
in the person of armed soldiers. But for that same power 
in the person of a freedman, they appeared to have naught 
but contempt. Indeed, they resented any such manifestation 
of it as an outrage; and the existence of it in the persons of 
" we all Yankees " had, apparently, served only to light our 
steps into a trap which any day might be sprung upon ou 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. Ill 

bare feet. At all events, it was clear to me that their 
respect for that " discreet Yankee ahmy " lieutenant was 
born of fear and not of love, or even of regard for his per- 
son, or for the government he represented; therefore they 
had resorted to cajolery and hypocrisy to deceive and mislead 
him. 

But my difficulty remained. For in the few months in- 
tervening between my "fool's errand" and now, " we all 
Yankees" had undergone no change as I could see, and, to 
all appearances, the freed-people were just the same, or nearly 
so, as then, and so far as I could learn the only " rising " now 
threatened by the " blacks " was a longing aspiration after 
knowledge. 

Had I appeared in the Yazoo City Banner with a " ceahd " 
charging that the only " rising " the best people of Yazoo 
County had any interest in, or could be induced to tolerate, 
would be one in which the negroes should be held and 
treated as felons, murderers, treacherous, blood-thirsty 
wretches, because it would afibrd the high-toned gentlemen 
of the county a pretext for a " vindication " of the supe- 
riority of the Caucasian race over the negroes, it would 
have been a true statement of the case at that time, in my 
opinion. But it could not have cleared away my difficulty: 

" \Yhy were the best citizens of Yazoo County now bit- 
terly hostile to the presence of Yankee soldiers, in charge o 
a discreet officer, when less than a year before they had with 
such a semblance of zeal petitioned to have them sent there?" 

There was nothing in ^azoo County to affijrd me any light 
whatever upon the subject, and it was some time afterward 
that I found the true key to the mystery. 

Oar crop that year was a failure. The proceeds barely 
paid for gathering and working it. The saw-mill, however, 
had been doing a good business right along, and in this 
crisis proved to be our stalwart friend. It lifted us over the 
rocks upon which several Northern planters foundered, and in 
spite of the overflow that deluged the Yazoo bottoms that 
winter. 



112 YAZOO ; OR, 

In June following, we had as fine a " stand " of cotton on 
six hundred acres of Tokeba, as had ever been seen on the 
plantation. At least so Colonel Black's former slaves declared. 
In one respect the overflow had proved a blessing to us, for 
it enabled us to "float" a large number of as fine cypress 
trees as were ever brought out of the " brakes " in that re- 
gion, and the mill was just " coining money" for us. 

All this demonstrated the wisdom of Charles' plan of 
making " one hand wash the other," and I had greater faith 
than ever in his business sagacity. Our experiences in another 
direction, however, had increased his confidence in what he 
was pleased to call my," political acumen." But that was 
because I had, during the first year, better opportunities than 
he for learning the " ways of the country." 

Our partner, Mr. Moss, was just beginning to realize the 
truth. He was absent North a great part of the time, and 
during his visits to us the native whites took particular pains, 
whenever he met them, on the river packets, or in town, to 
treat him with consideration. Therefore, he had been slow 
to comprehend some features of the situation. 

In compliance with our promise to have a school on the 
place, the old quarter jail had been torn down and the same 
logs used in the building of a house for that j^urpose. Colonel 
Black's old slaves recognized and greatly enjoyed the "poetic 
justice " in this use of that jail. 

"We had not been able to procure a teacher in Yazoo, and 
the school had been delayed until our sister MoUie, who had 
just graduated, and was soon to be married, should visit us. 
Now, she was coming, and wrote that she expected that an 
old friend would accompany her, in the hope of improving 
her health by the travel and a winter in the " Sunny South." 

We knew the young lady and her family well, and it was 
arranged that she should undertake, with Mollie's help, to 
teach the school; just to have something to do. 

This was the " straw that broke the camel's back — " " a 
white lady teaching a nigger school ! ! ! " 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 113 

They were bDth ostracized from the first. Bat one "■ white 
Southera lady" called dariug their sojourn with us, and rumor 
said she was " engaged to a Yank." 

It wa3 '^ monstrous ! " It was " incendiarism ! " It would 
put the '' very devil " in the heads of '' our nigros," said the 
best citizens. And whenever they happened to see this 
"■ nigger school marm," they would say: 

"It's an outrage to subject the young lady to the conse- 
quences of such a calling," and they savagely denounced us 
as responsible for the "crime" against her "sex and her 
race." 

She was a real good Yankee girl; a sweet-faced, sweet- 
tempered, lovely, Christian woman. At her home, Lura 
Starke was admired and loved by all. She possessed, among 
other virtues, the courage of true womanhood; or, rather I 
should say, the virtues she inherited had blossomed under the 
care of loving, worthy parents, into the true womanly graces. 
Therefore, she did not heed these reproaches, and made no 
protest against being called a " nigger school marm." 

Sister Mollie and she went over to town one Sunday to 
church. They never ventured again. Mollie declared that 
during prayer she heard some ladies whispering to each other, 
that she was a polecat. 

From this time on it was simply an accident if one of us 
returned from an errand in town without having been grossly 
insulted. On meeting us white women would gather their 
skirts about them and turn away. White men often hud- 
dled in groups at the post-office to obstruct our way to or 
from the window, where we got our mail, or stretched them- 
selves across the sidewalk to prevent our passing up or down, 
and frequently commanded whichever one of us it hap- 
pened to be, to " walk in the street with the niggers."* 

*" Good nigros" still walked in the middle of the street with " other cattle," as was 
the practice in slave times. 

8y 



114 YAZOO; OR, 



CHAPTER XIV. 

YAZOO JUSTICE IN 1867 — TEN DOLLARS AND A " LICK " FO'R A 
year's hard work — WAS IT IN SELF-DEFENSE ? — QUESTIONS. 
REMAINING UNSETTLED TO THIS DAY — O'OOPHIE — POLECAT. 

WE had occasion to send one of our teams to an adjoining 
county after the ^' plunder," as the " household goods" 
and "gods " of the freed people were called, of some people 
who had come to us for the New Year. There had been some 
mule-stealing in that neighborhood; and more because Pomp, 
the driver, would be safer with than without one, we allowed 
him to take a Colt's revolver with him. He started off with 
it fastened in a belt under his coat. The following morning 
Pomp returned with the goods all right, but minus the 
weapon, and plus a very woe-begone countenance, indeed,* 
After hearing his story ^I mounted, and, taking him with me,, 
readily discovered the " robbers," who were attending to 
their business in the town, just like other honest men. They 
did not deny that they had taken the pistol. On the contrary 
they informed''me that if I wished to recover it I had better 
see a magistrate. 

To a magistrate]^! went, stated the case and demanded 
their arrest. The justice promptly complied. But before 
the warrants, charging them with an " assault " on Pomp^ 
and " highway robbery " against the " peace and dignity of 
the State of Mississippi," could be served upon them, the 

* Thev were planters in the neighborhood whomJPomp well knew, and had got np to 
ride with him and thus taken him unawares. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 115 

robbers appeared ia court with counsel, aud blandly " 'low'd" 
they had only performed their "duty as good citizens," when 
they " seized " the weapon. 

Upon the hearing Pomp was allowed to " state " — the 
court would decide afterward whether he was a competent 
witness — that I had given him the weapon, and being 
called upon I was allowed to "testify " that I had; that it was 
the private property of my brother, and that Pomp had been 
allowed to carry it with him for use in case he should need it 
to defend himself or the team against mule thieves. 

The defendants plead the " statute " in such cases, and 
were promptly discharged. Whereupon Pomp was arrested, 
charged with carrying a " deadly weapon " against the -'peace 
and dignity " of the State, found guilty, and fined " ten dol- 
lars, or thirty days in jail." 

Then I was arrested, charged with having given him the 
weapon, " against the peace and dignity of the State of Mis- 
sissippi," was found guilty, and fined "fifty dollars, or ninety 
days in jail ;" being the lowest penalty the justice said he was 
allowed by the statute to impose. 

During the proceedings, I had demanded to be shown the 
statute under which they were justified, and had been grati- 
fied. There it was, plain as day, within the lids of the "Acts of 
the Legislature " of the State, published by authority.* 

Pomp could not read, yet he did not appear so greatly puz- 
zled as I who could. Looking about the court-room and ob- 
serving that not only the court himself, but also the "robbers" 
and a large part of the spectators, carried weapons, I called his 
honor's attention to the fact, aud reminded him that although 
Pomp was a " freedman, free negro or mulatto," he was our 
teamster, our servant, and we had merely given him the 
weapon to be used in case of need in protecting our prop- 
erty, and it was not charged that /was not a "white man." 

The court, however, informed me that in that case I 
should have sent a white man; that the statute had been 

* The reader will learn more of this and other Yazoo laws as we proceed. 



116 ' YAZOO; OR, 

wisely framed for the protection of the commuoity against 
most disastrous consequences to society, certain to follow any 
violation whatever of the principles which the statute recog- 
nized as essential to the welfare of both races, viz: their 
complete separation, and the subjection of the inferior to 
the superior. He, however, would instruct the officer to 
allow us a reasonable time in which to pay the fine. He did 
not wish to degrade me by a ^-commitment," as the statute 
was ''purely corrective." 

I at once sjught out the ex-bureau agent, who informed 
me that the statute under which I had been fined, with other 
similar acts of the legislature of the State, had been de- 
clared "null and void " by the Federal authorities, because 
they were in conflict with the Civil Rights Act of Con- 
gress,* and all I need do would be to write to the commaod- 
ing general and state the facts to him. This I did, and, in 
a few days, received an official letter from headquarters, 
inclosing a formal document signed by His Excellency Ben- 
jamin G. Humphreys, Governor of the State of Mississippi, 
in which the commanding general was informed in efl'ect that 
His Excellency had previously advised all executive and 
judicial officers of the State not to attempt to enforce the stat- 
utes complained of, pending the operation of the Federal 
statutes, with which they were in conflict. 

I presented this document to the magistrate, and claimed 
exemption from payment of the flues imposed upon Pomp 
and myself. He did not appear to have any desire to read it. 
Nor was he in the least disconcerted by it. Oa the contrary, 
he acted as though he knew it all the while, and, as though 
my employment of the Federal power to defeat the will of 
my neighbors and fellow-citizens had deepened the contempt 
he had previously felt for me. However, from this on, we 
preferred " Federal " to '' local " government at Tokeba, and 
Charles and I both determined to know more " law " in the 
future, whatever the consequences might be to our business. 

* This was the Civil Rights Act of 1806. 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 117 

This resolution was quickened, no doubt, by outrages upon 
the freedmen, or upon Northern settlers themselves, which 
were reported to us or of which we were witnesses. 

As to those inflicted upon the freedmen, the following may 
be taken as a fair sample : 

The first is a " settlement" between a planter and one of 
his freedmen. It took place at the store of Mr. Fountain 
Barksdale, with whom we were having large dealings, and 
while I was making some purchases there. 

The planter had just sold and received from Mr. Barksdale 
the money for several bales of cotton, which had been hauled 
to town upon a wagon at that moment standing at the store 
front. With the money in his hands the planter called to 
the driver of the wagon — 

"Hi! yo', boy! Comey'here!" 

The freedman, with his long ox whip in one hand and hat 
in the other, walked promptly into the store, where the 
planter handed him a ten-dollar bill. He had evidently ex- 
pected more money, for the smile which had lighted up his 
face gave way to one of disappointment, and, in an attitude 
of abject humility, he inquired — 

" Am dis all, marsa ?" The only reply was a ringing blow 
with the planter's hand upon his upturned face, followed by 
aa order to — 

" Go home, boy." 

Without the least apparent resentment the man gathered 
himself up, walked back to the wagon, and started the team 
homeward. 

Of the several white persons present, there was not one who 
appeared to have dny sympathy for the freedman, nor any who 
appeared to question the perfect propriety of the planter's 

conduct. 

On my way home from town one day I saw in the road 
coming toward me an old freedman, leading by the hand a 
little girl. The moment he saw me he " shied " off the high- 
way into the bushes like a frightened steer. 



118 YAZOO; OR, 

I called after him — 

" What's the matter, Uncle?" It must have been some- 
thing in the tone of my voice or form of my speech, for he 
stopped, hesitated, and after a brief pause as though in doubt 
as to something, he replied: 

'' Nuth'n', marsa." Then I— 

" Don't be afraid; what's the matter? why do you leave 
the road ?" 

He advanced toward me hesitatingly, leading the girl. 
Then I told him my name and where I lived. 

His face brightened at once, and he came up until he stood 
by my horse's head, the girl still holding on to him, and he 
said: 

" Beez yo' de Yankee Kunnel whar live on Marsa Black's 
plantation?" 

" Yes." 

" Beez yo' de gemen de white folks war a talkin' right 
smart about?" 

" Yes, I guess so." 

"Well, den, I reckon yo' is. Bless de Lord !" 

By this I could half imagine the trouble, for I had observed 
that the girl's frock was stained and stiif with blood that had 
flowed from deep gashes upon her head, neck, and shoulders, 
and I said to him: 

" Tell me all about it, Uncle." In response to this invita- 
tion, the man approached until he stood at the side of my 
horse, where, with his hand at times resting on the stirrup of 
the saddle, and at other times engaged in wiping the tears 
from his eyes, he told me his story in a tone of voice that 
equally with his manner, indicated his perfect trust in me. 

Briefly told, this negro's master, '' Mars Si," he called him, 
only the night before had beaten the little girl at his side, 
his daughter, nearly to " def's do," and, while his son, An- 
drew, the following morning, was " a stan'in' thar in he own 
doah, doin' nufiiu' 'cepu' watchin' Mars Si, fur ter keep um 
ofl''n' de gal, Mars Si done shot de boy t'wel he wor dead." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 119 

They had run away from the plantation, the old man and 
his daughter, and traveled on foot through the swamps on 
their way to town in search " ob 'jest." Uncle Isam, that was 
his name, was on a quest for justice. He had " done heerd 
dar wor a booro in de Azoo City," and hoped to find what 
he wanted there. 

General Bell, formerly of the Mississippi River Marine 
Brigade, was " trying " to plant on a place near Tokeba. I 
should pass his residence on my way home. There was no 
longer a bureau in town for the freed people. I so informed 
Isam and requested him to accompany me to the General's 
home, where we would all talk the matter over, and advise 
him what to do. 

I knew there was little to hope from the law officers at 
Yazoo City, and did not know but Isam would do better to 
abandon his quest altogether. But after General Bell had 
heard the story, he accompanied Isam to town, resolved to 
ascertain for a certainty whether or not any notice would be 
taken of the matter. A warrant was sworn out by Isam, 
charging his employer with murder, and placed in the hands 
of the sheriff' for execution. 

Three days afterward, being in town, I met this sheriff", 
who informed me that he had'' business on the creek" — that 
was " Mars Si's home" — which would necessitate a journey 
there, and on his return he would bring Captain Cambee — 
that was Mars Si — in with him. But the case was neglected 
until Mars Si came in voluntarily and gave himself up. 

On the hearing before the same justice who had fined 
Pomp and me, it was proved by six witnesses " for the State" 
that on the night before the killing. Mars Si arrived home 
" nigh on to midnight j" that the girl who had been set to 
watch for his boming. while her mistress slept, had fallen 
asleep herself and was not prompt to admit him; that on 
being admitted he flew at the girl with his stick and beat her 
until her screams, heard at the quarter, a hundred or more 
yards distant, brought her father, who tookher in his arms and 



120 YAZOO; OK, 

carried her to his home; that the following morning Mars Si, 
accompanied by one of his neighbors, and both armed with 
guns, was advancing on Isam's house to force the girl to re- 
turn home with him; seeing which, Isam's son, who stood 
in the door on the watch, turned as if to re-enter " an' shet 
de do';" that as the son began this movement, Mars Si 
raised his gun and shot him dead. 

For the defense, it was shown on the testimony of Mars Si 
himself and his neighbor, that " as Mars Si approached to 
recover the gal, the son turned like he wor g'wan to take 
down his gun " — a squirrel gun which was hanging on the 
wall inside the house — and Mars Si thereupon fired " in self- 
defense." All agreed that the fatal wound was in the front 
and side. Mars Si admitted the " chastisement " of the even- 
ing before; that the father had taken the girl away; that she 
was but thirteen years of age ; that he was advancing on the 
house to recover her, accompanied by his neighbor ; that 
both were armed with double-barrelled shotguns, and that it 
was Cambee's shot which killed the boy. Mars Si's lawyer, an 
old one, testified that he had known Captain Cambee for many 
years before the war; that he was an old citizen of the county, 
highly connected and greatly respected ; that he had been 
known as a kind master, and was "a high-toned, honorable 
gentleman," and then announced that the defense rested their 
cause. 

The attorney for the prosecution, retained by Isam after 
great difliculty, began his speech by offering as an apology 
for appearing for Isam, the fact that " there are strangers in 
our midst, and my refusal to appear for this nigro might be 
misconstrued to the injury of our people." But, he had 
*' never appeared in a cause so repugnant to all his finer 
feelings," and so forth. 

The attorney for the defense appreciated the situation, and 
the feelings of the opposing counsel. Here was '' a high-toned, 
honorable gentleman in jeopardy of his life on the testi- 
mony of nigros. They would not deny the killing. They 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 121 

justified it. But they had fallen upon strange times. The 
most that could be made of the charge was manslaughter. 
They would plead guilty to that. It was within the knowl- 
edge of the court that bv the laws of the commonwealth, the 
only testimony offered by the State was inadmissible. How- 
ever, they were for the present under the rule of a military 
despotism. He appreciated the delicate duty imposed upon his 
honor; he was under duress, and they would consent to bail." 

So Mars Si, having given Mr. Stockdale and another well- 
known and leading citizen as surety for appearance when 
wanted, was released and that was the end of it. 

"jS'ever indicted ?" 

" :N'o." 

" JSTothing further ever done about it ?" 

" ISO." 

General Bell and I were present at this hearing. The 
court-room was packed with whites, and as we left the hall 
and passed down the stairway the spectators groaned aloud. 
Some shouted, ^'O'oophe !" "O'oophe !" "polecat!" "polecat!" 

Had it not been for the remnant of fear remaining that a 
way might be found for their punishment, in such a case, we 
should doubtless have been hanged. 

These and similar events, occurring in the winter of 
1866-'67 and spring of 1867, took effect upon our partner, 
Mr. Moss, and, by Jane following, of the nineteen ex- Fed- 
eral officers and soldiers in that county, engaged, some in 
planting, some in merchandising, and some in manufacturing, 
there was not one who had not been the victim of such out- 
rages, or a witness of them. So, that as a class we were a unit in 
opinion and feeling as to the purposes of the late rebels, 
respecting their former slaves. 



122 YAZOO; OK, 



CHAPTER XV. 

ARMY WORMS AND OTHER WORMS — OUR STALWART PRIEXD LAS 
SOED — ANOTHER KIND OF FOOL'S ERRAND — HOW TO GET " RID 
A THE D — N YANKEES " — HURRAH FOR COL. J. J. U. BLACK — 
WAS COLONEL BLACK " AGENT IN FACT "? 

DURING the first days of September, Uncle David thought 
he saw signs of the army worm in his " crap." David 
was planting "on shares " that year. 

In less than ten days, nearly all of the six hundred acres 
looked as though they had been swept by fire; all the green 
leaves and shoots had been eaten off, and the crop was ruined. 
Only our " stalwart friend " remained steadfast. 

We had already shipped several cargoes of lumber to Vicks- 
burg, one to New Orleans, and were getting ready another 
one for that market. I have not the exact figures, but there 
must have been at least half a million feet of lumber piled 
in our yard at the mill, nearly a million of shingles, and in 
logs in the river ready for the mill there were fully a million 
more feet of lumber. 

None of this property, not even the saw-mill, was in any 
way liable under the terms of our contract with Mrs. Black 
for any part of the rent-money for Tokeba. 

Although the crop was a failure, in all probability there 
would be enough corn and cotton made to pay the rent. 
Besides, there were upon the plantation, belonging to our 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 123 

firm, several head of work cattle, twenty-niae head of horses 
and mules, and wagons and plows, harness, etc., etc. The 
only lien of any kind against this property was that of the 
landlord for his rent. 

Notwithstanding these evidences of our ability to pay the 
rent when it should become due, one day, shortly after the 
army worm disappeared, Colonel Finley, the sheriff, came 
to Tokeba and informed my brother that Colonel Black, as 
agent in fact of his wife, had been before a magistrate and 
made oath that he had reason to suspect and did verily believe 
we were about to remove our property beyond the jurisdiction 
■of Yazoo County, •' for the purpose of defrauding" him of his 
rent. Whereupon an attachment writ had been issued, com- 
manding the sherift" to seize the saw-ynill and fxtures, logs, 
lumber, shingles, etc., and hold them, subject to the further 
orders of that magistrate's court. He had called for the 
purpose of executing the writ. 

The purpose of this proceeding was evident. When Col- 
onel Black made that oath, he knew that if we had desired 
to do so, it would have been impossible for us to remove the 
property levied on into the adjoining couuty — the nearest 
being more than twenty miles distant — in less time than one 
week. When the magistrate issued the writ, and when the 
sheriff executed it, that fact was as evident to them as to Col- 
onel Black or to ourselves. Yet they had done these things. 
Their only motive was our destruction. It was plain there 
■existed no other; for if Colonel Black sought this remedy 
in good faith and for the sole purpose of securing the rent- 
money for Mrs. Black, why had he left the only property 
upon the place, which we could have run off in a night, viz: 
the horses, mules and other cattle, and levied upon our " stal- 
"wart friend"? Had his only object been to collect the rent, 
by allowing us to keep the mill running, we readily could have 
paid it out of the orders for lumber already on hand and from 
the proceeds of the cargo we were about to send to New 
Orleans. But this he would not permit, and the sheriff not 



124 YAZOO ; ORj 

only forbade us to operate the mill ; he also put a guard over 
it to make sure that we did not. It was evident that Colonel 
Black, the magistrate, and the sherifl" had conspired together 
to destroy us.* 

But we had made some few friends during our brief resi- 
dence in the county', and, notwithstanding the ugly front of 
the enemy, we resolved to contest with the conspirators 
their power to destroy us, as well as their right to this writ 
for money not yet due. But at the moment when we thought 
we were about to defeat them by replevin, the sheriff made 
another visit to Tokeba, and shortly afterward anotlici . until 
the writs covered all our property, even including the grow- 
ing and ungathered crops, and amounted to the whole of the 
rental for the coming year 1868, in addition to the last install- 
ment of the rental for 1867, which itself was not yet due- 

The end of it all was that the enemy triumphed, the sheriff 
sold our property, and the rent remained unpaid still. 

" Unpaid ? " 

" Yes, unpaid." 

u ^Yhy ? " 

" Because, after the sheriff got his fees, there was not 
money enough left from the proceeds of the sale to pay it. 
Then, too, the property did not sell very well. For example 
a wagon which cost one hundred and twenty-five dollars 
sold for twenty-eight dollars; mules that cost us one hundred 
and thirty dollars per head only the year before in St. Louis 
were knocked off, some of them to Black, at twenty-five to 
fifty-five dollars per head, and the mill, with fixtures, which 
had cost us, as it stood when attached, nearly eleven thou- 
sand dollars, was sold to Colonel Black for one hundred dollars. 
The logs had been allowed to break loose from their cribs and 
float away. The lumber and shingles went for a mere song — 
I forget the amount — while much of the crop was allowed to 
go to waste." 

* Two years later the records of the bankrupt court sliowed that at the time they 
became sureties on the bond which Colonel Black had to make in order to obtain his 
■writs of attachment every one of liis bondsmen was insolvent. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 125 

*■ Whj did we permit all this ? " 

" We did uot; we tried hard to prevent it." 

*' How was it done !" 

" According to law;" and the law of Yazoo on the subject 
was similar to that of manj States of the Union, Xorth as 
well as South. The difficulty was not in the law, but in the 
character of our neighbors. We had never pretended to very 
great skill in matters of law, but we had good counsel — a 
native law} er — and we were acting according to his instruc- 
tions when we sought for a remedy by replevin. To enable 
us to obtain a hearing in a superior court this was the first 
and an essential step. But before we could take that step 
it was necessary that we should give a bond in double the 
amount attached for. Therefore having procured our bonds- 
men for double the amount sued for under the first levy, to 
prevent us replevying the mill and resuming work with it, 
Colonel Black got out the additional writs for the next year's 
rental, which ran up the amount of the bond to a point which 
of itself was calculated to frighten off* any who might be dis- 
posed to befriend us. Besides, the sherifi' required of our 
sureties an oath that they were severally worth the amount 
for which tliey were to sign in real estate, over and above all 
their just debts and all liabihties. 

On attempting to give this bond we found that the contest 
had extended beyond the limits of a judicial proceeding. It 
was no longer between Colonel Black and our firm, but be- 
tween " we all Southerners " and " them d — d Yankees up 
the river." Even the parties by whose aid we were to have 
made the first bond, shrank away, excusing themselves by 
saying that to be publicly known as our friends would ruin 
their own business. Every Northern planter was either in 
the same dilemma as ourselves or had already gone down, 
and had left the country, or was about to do so. 

We could not find a real estate owner in the county who 
TYOuld befriend us. There were some who would gladly have 
done 80, but they durst not. 



126 YAZOO; OR, 

At last, and when the limit of time allowed under the law 
by the magistrate, in which to ^^ive bond and replevy, was 
about to expire, by the advice of our attorney I armed myself 
with letters from several of the wealthiest and most worthy 
citizens of the town and neighborhood, and went to see the 
commanding general.* After stating the facts to him I 
laid before that gentleman the letters of our Northern neigh- 
bors, alleging that we were being persecuted because we were 
"Northern men, and loyal." I also placed before him the 
letters of Mr. Fountain Barksdale, Mr. Hiram Harrison, and 
Messrs. Kellogg & Co., three of the largest commission mer- 
chants and dealers in Yazoo City, setting forth that our busi- 
ness with each of them had amounted to several thousand 
dollars; that we had met all of our obligations promptly, and 
that we were respectable, reliable, and honorable business 
men ; also, that the proceedings against us were oppressive 
and uncalled tor. 

Upon this showing General Ord granted an order for a 
stay of ten days, that he might investigate the matter. This 
gave us a breathing spell; time for renewed efibrts; and upon 
the advice of our counsel I set out to see the judge of our 
Circuit Court, then in an adjoining county, while Charles 
posted off to raise money. 

When I had placed before the judge all the facts that I 
had laid before General Ord he promptly set the cause for a 
special hearing before himself, whenever we should enter 
into bond equal to the amount of rent that would be due at 
the close of the year 1867, but when I got back to Yazoo 
City I found that Colonel Black and his friends had seized 
upon what they styled an " outrageous interference with the 
civil authorities by a military despot in a time of profound 
peace," as affording them alia pretext for still further inflam- 
ing themselves and their " anti-Yankee " allies against us. 
They were ready to make it " a personal matter, by G — d, 
sh*," with any one who might appear to sympathize with us 

*E. O. C. Ora. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 127 

in any way, so that it became impossible to make even the 
small amount of bond now required to enable us to get a 
hearing in court. 

Upon report of an officer sent by himself to Yazoo, to in- 
vestigate our case, General Ord granted an extension of his 
former order for ten days. Meanwhile, having succeeded in 
raising a sum of money equal to the amount on the bond^ 
Charles took it to the sheriff and offered it to him in lieu of 
securities. But after consulting with Mrs. Black's lawyers, 
he flatly refused to accept the money. Then Charles went 
with the money first to one and then another of the mer- 
chants who had given us the letters referred to, and with each 
of whom, save one,* their own books showed a balance in 
our favor in the transactions of more than a year, and said to 
them : " Take this money, put it in your safe and lock it up, 
or, if you please, use it as your own, and make this bond for 
us." 

All refused. Not because they had changed their minds 
as to the merits of the case, but, as each declared, to do so 
would ruin their own business. 

We were now at the end of our pursuit of a legal remedy. 
It seemed that the feeling against us increased in just pro- 
portion to the zeal and skill with which we pursued after our 
rights, and so it did. Our partner gave out in the race first, 
I next. Charles was last to give up. 

Finding that we could not prevent the sale, Charles pro- 
posed to be present and buy in the property, or at least make 
it sell for what it was worth. But a new obstacle confronted 
us, none of our friends North would risk any more money in 
Mississippi. 

Charles had obtained the money for the bond on a promise 
to secure it on the property when it should be released. But 
the situation was now changed — at least more clearly appar- 
ent. If by its aid, the aid of the circuit judge of our district, 
and that of the commanding general, we were not able to 

* In this case we owed $100— not yet due. 



128 YAZOO; OR, 

obtain our ^'day in court," what right had we to suppose 
that there would be any protection for the property, after 
Colonel Black and the sheriff should lose their interest in 
preserving it ? 

"We were forced to admit that there was but one answer to 
the question, and that it would be as impossible for us to secure 
the conviction of the man who might fire our mill, lumber 
and cotton, turn our logs loose in the night, steal our mules, 
kill either or all of us, as it had been to replevin the property 
in the first instance. And, as the ^'anti- Yankee" element 
had shown itself not only willing, but able to carry out their 
plans in that case, would they not be able to do so in the other? 

There was but one answer to that question either. There- 
fore our friend thought he w^ould keep his money. Thus it 
came about that, when the mill was sold, Colonel Black was 
the only bidder, which demonstrated to Mr. Moss, Charles and 
myself, the futility of laws that are against " the will of the 
people," and that in Yazoo County the *^ anti- Yankee " ele- 
ment constituted the people.* For as the sheriff triumph- 
antly conducted our animals over Mr. Gosling's ferry, and up 
through town to the stable where they were to be sold, men, 
women and children shouted as they passed by, " Hurrah ! 
Hurrah ! for Colonel Black !" and they said to each other, 
while they shook hands over it, " we'll get rid a the d — d 
Yankees now." 

*Puring this stmggle, Mrs. Charlotte Black gave no sign that she disapproved of the 
conduct of hor agent in fact. While some of those with whom we had been on friendly 
terms ventured to say to us that they disapproved, there was not one who said so 
openly, and whenever we met them thev passed by with a sort of sneak-thief expres- 
sion of face and of manner. All seemed "to say, " You should do as wc Romans do.' ' 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 129 



CHAPTER XVI. 

REFLECTIONS — AN APPOMATTOX *^ STRAW " — CHARLES' " NEW 
idea" — SHALL WE SURRENDER, RUN AWAY, OR FIGHT IT OUT 
ON THAT LINE — WEIGHTY REASONS WHY THE BATTLE SHOULD 
CONTINUE. 

WHILE Colonel Black and his allies were engaged in root- 
ing out 80 many of the Northern settlers in Yazoo as they 
could get under by hook or by crook, the reconstruction acts 
of Congress were being put into eiftect in Mississippi. Reg- 
istrars had been appointed for Yazoo County. A general reg- 
istration of all persons entitled under those acts to vote had 
been concluded, and proclamation had been made of an elec- 
tion to be held for the selection of delegates to a convention 
to frame a constitution, etc. At this forthcoming election 
colored men — black, light and white — were to be allowed to 
vote along with their former masters. 

Had I been called upon two years before to decide for my- 
self whether the freed people ought to be allowed to vote, 1 
presume I should have replied : " Yes, why not ? " and 
doubtless should have dismissed the subject with that. Had 
I been, at the same time, called upon to answer the ques- 
tion for the country, I presume I should have rephed: 
-' Really, I have not considered the question fully; " for such 
is the conservatism of responsibility. If pressed I doubtless 
should have said : " The freedmen are human beings like the 
9y 



130 YAZOO ; OR, 

rest of us; I shall claim no rights for myself that 1 am not 
perfectly willing to accord to all others." If pressed further 
it is quite likely I should have added : " Yes, all who are 
qualified." But had the alternative been presented to me, and I 
required to decide the question for the whole country — "the 
ballot for the negro or not " — I am quite certain I should 
have demanded some qualification. 

Up to this lime, 1867, I had voted but once in my life, 
and that was while lying in the trenches before Petersburg; 
a vote that was counted in Wisconsin. 

The issue then was: "Shall we surrender to the rebels, or 
continue the fight until they surrender to us ? " 

On one side was George B. McClellan, a discarded Union 
general; on the other, Abraham Lincoln. I voted to con- 
tinue the fight. 

I was able to recollect that in 1860 the issue was " for " 
extension or "against" extension of slavery, and that I had 
carried a torchlight alongside of those who opposed the exten- 
sion of that " sum of all villainies." Though not old enough to 
vote,I could " help to swell the ranks," they said. At the age of 
eighteen I was in the ranks, with a musket on my shoulder, 
on my way to Bull liun, where I might at least " stop a bul- 
let " toward putting down the " slave-holders' rebellion," they 
said. At twenty-two I had witnessed the surrender at Appo- 
mattox, and, with " my regiment," had been assigned the 
distinction of escort for the captured headquarters' train of 
General Lee, who, with his staif, as paroled prisoners of war, 
preceded us on our return march. 

True, I was able to recall that, while on this march a pa- 
roled Confederate brigadier became so offended with me that 
he would not continue under my " protection " any longer, 
because I had said I believed the freed slaves would become 
good citizens, in reply to his request for my views on what 
should be the future status of " ouah nigros." His flashing 
eyes and " shinin' " buttons had made a deeper impression upon 
my mind, however, than the taunt he threw back at me as he 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 131 

rode on : " Young man^, I am older than you are. Remember 
what I say. The South will regahi by superiah strategy and 
statesmanship what it has lost by appeaUng to ahms." 

" Superior statesmanship ! " I only laughed quietly, and 
allowed it to pass without a word, for he had the appearance 
of only a dress parade brigadier. To be sure I had recently 
been feeling the effects of this " superiah " strategy ; but, 
having come into a limited knowledge of the nature of the 
contest going on between " Andy " Johnson on one side and 
the statesmen of the nation on the other, I had learned that 
these statesmen had been able to " sit down " on Johnson as 
effectually as Grant and our army had on the honest, manly 
rebels at Petersburg and Appomattox. Therefore, notwith- 
standing our rough experiences, my faith in the present power 
of the North was equalled only by the knowledge of it, which 
I had gained at Appomattox but little more than two years 
before. 

There, where that power had been so signally demonstrated,* 
we had taken a "bond of fate" for the fulfillment of their 
promise to behave themselves, and allowed the rebels, as we 
said, " to go back home, brethren, and go to work for a living," 
as we Yanks had always done and expected always to continue 
to do. 

My faith in the fidelity of the jSTorth to its hiojh purposes, 
and in the promises of the nation to the emancipated slaves, 
was not a whit less than was my faith in its power. By actual 
contact with them, I had come into a more perfect knowledge 
of the true character of "conquered" rebels — especially of 
slave-holding rebels. And in the same manner I had come 
to form a juster estimate of the character and capacity of 
the African in America. 

After only two years' contact with him I was able to answer the 
question — " the ballot for the negro, or not for him" — not only 
for myself, but also for the country; for, I said, any means 

* Our children will more justly appreciate the magnitude of the task, accomplished 
when Lee surrendered. 



132 YAZOO; OR, 

that will enable us to live here in peace, and enjoy the fruits 
of our toil, can but be helpful and good for the whole country. 
Therefore, with the call for this election, there came to Charles 
and myself a hope of succor through the power of the ballot, 
backed as it was by the power of the nation. We began 
to canvass the situation as to the prospect of an application 
of the means aftbrded by the " reconstruction plan " for a 
restoration to ourselves, and to secure to the freed people the 
right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

In proof of the capacity of the negro to enjoy these privi- 
leges we had only to look to Tokeba ; for during the two 
years we had been together as " masters and servants," as 
a whole, our hands had demonstrated their possession of the 
very best qualities of natural manhood and womanhood. 
Lewd, " bad " women came no more, or at rare intervals, to 
Tokeba. During those two years, of the plantation force of 
more than one hundred and twenty-five only one had been 
drunk ; only one had been caught stealing — that was Aggaby 
— and concubinage had been utterly routed ; " Voudoo" 
had disappeared ; Uncle Stephen had been taught a new text ; 
Rose, still a " pure " girl, was able to read and write, and her 
mother had determined to make a true " woman " rather than 
a "lady " of her ; Uncle Bristol, Uncle Jonathan, and Pomp 
wore new clothes and held their heads up, though Bristol 
could not yet straighten out his legs ;* Uncle David had 
become his own overseer, and Uncle Anderson Henderson, 
during the whole period, had been Charles' most trusted and 
faithful mill-hand, while his Judy was universally respected 
at the quarter and by ourselves as a model wife. 

During this time we had kept out of debt, except to friends 
and relatives residing in the North, of whom we had received 
pecuniary aid, and excepting the wages due to our hands. 
Our friends in the North could not " understand things " at 
all, and the sudden winding up of our business — especially the 
manner of it — was incomprehensible to them. Had we 
" no courts in Mississippi ?" some inquired. 

♦This affliction was said to be a legacy from that old quarter jail. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 133 

'' What had we done to bring down upon our business the 
wrath of the entire community ?" some said ; others: "No 
business to have gone down there among those rebels;" while 
there were those who intimated that "the boys" after all, 
" had done badly," " no use denying it ;" " if there wern't a 
screw loose somewhere they would have had so77ie friends ; 
needn't talk to me." It would be impossible to bring a 
whole community against faithful, industrious, and honorable 
" business men, with the backing we had at the start, unless 
there was," they said. We could reply to these questionings 
and insinuations only by silence. We had " failed," that 
was certain. We could feel it in our bones. 



134 YAZOO; OR, 



CHAPTER XVII, 

Charles' TWENTY millions gone glimmering — sweet consola- 
tion — fame, and how to win it in YAZOO — TRUE FRIENDS. 

THE fulfillment of my brother's prophecy seemed to me a 
long way ofi ; for by the close of 1867 the " tide of im- 
migration " had ceased to flow southward. Indeed, it was 
flowing away from Yazoo. But there was one consolation — 
yes, a real consolation — left to us ; for when at last we gave 
up the struggle with Colonel Black, " agent in fact " for Mrs. 
Charlotte Black, and that lady's lawyers, we discoverod that 
the negroes on the plantation were all loyal to us. Uncle 
David, Uncle Anderson, Uncle Stephen, Uncle Aggaby,Uncle 
Bristol, Mr. Smith and Mrs. Smith, and all the other uncles 
and aunts, voluntarily came forward, each and every one, and 
forgave us what we owed them ! Some with oaths, some sob- 
bing and others crying, begged us to not go back " to the 
North " — they had learned to pronounce the North correctly 
— and leave them there alone. 

During the two years we had been on Tokeba the fame of 
our acts had spread far, carried partly on the tongues of 
*' ole marsa," who ceased in his cursing of the " free nigros," 
or " that d — d radical Congress," or " that d — d free nigro 
bureau," only to curse " them d — d nigger-loving, radical 
Yankee incendiaries " on Tokeba, and partly in the hearts 
and prayers of such as Jonathan, Pomp, Isam, Mrs. Smith 
and others. And now, when the new voters began to look 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 135 

about for candidates to make the new constitution, delega- 
tions of them from fur and near came and urged us to be 
their " leaders." Even " jan in de ole Holmes County " sent 
a delegation. 

Our firm had sunk on Tokeba nearly fifty thousand dollars. 
Mr. Moss, our Illinois partner, thoroughly di'^usted, returned 
North at once. Charles was on the point of doing so, and I 
think would have left Yazoo and all his bright visions to 
Colonel Black and his allies at that time, but for the noble 
conduct of our hands, which had altered the nature of our 
obligation to them. 

My brother had changed very much, and I could see was 
growing older, but there Was all the physical vigor of the two 
years before. His strictly temperate habits and careful diet- 
ing had brought him safely through acclimation, with scarcely 
more than an occasional chill. So one day, after the first 
shock of Black's treatment had passed, he said to me : 

" Albert, it is evident that Congress is having a pretty 
hard fight with Andy and these rebels" — he called them 
rebels now — " and should the plan of reconstruction they 
have adopted fail to carry the South, there is no telling what 
the consequences may be to the nation. I am too old " — he 
was thirty- four — '' and too set in my ways ever to hope to 
succeed in politics, but you are young and have a long future 
before you. Suppose you go to the convention; help to give 
us a free constitution — you can copy after Massachusetts or 
Ohio — start a loyal government, and T will remain here and see 
what I can do toward getting a new start. There are greater 
natural advantages here, from a business point of vicAv, than 
anywhere else in the world. All we need is to let these 
rebels see that their slaves are free in fact, and that they 
were really whi[iped. Then things will settle down again to 
the ways of peace, and this country will prosper." 

I had not thought of such a thing as he suggested. I was 
not old enough ; had no knowledge of public men or affairs 
other than military. Besides, the fight was going to be a long 



136 YAZOO ; OR, 

and bitter one. It would require the ablest and best men to 
be found. The adoption of a new constitution and the setting 
up of a new government under it would, in my opinion, be 
but the begiuning of the conflict, which would continue 
until the negroes were in a position, by reason of their property, 
education, and experiences, to protect themselves. I did 
not look for immigration again to set southward for many 
years. 

"It is to be a life-work, my brother," I said; and I felt 
certain he was better fitted for it than I. But he would not 
listen to my suggestion that he become a candidate himself, 
and reiterating his often-repeated apothegm : " The place to 
look for a thing is that where it was lost," strongly urged me 
to go to the convention. He preferred a private life. 

While we were debating this question, three Northerners, 
all ex-Federal officers, announced themselves as candidates on 
a ticket they called " the Republican ticket." In discussing 
the question with the Northerners, we had discovered quite a 
division of opinion among them as to the policy to be pur- 
sued in the creation of the new government. Some declared 
that there were none of the native whites who could be trusted 
to aid in doing the work, not one; and the freedmen were 
too ignorant and inexperienced. There were others who be- 
lieved that it would be organizing for certain defeat, and that 
it would not be correct in principle to ignore the native pop- 
ulation altogether. 

"When asked to name some Southerner who could be relied 
on I suggested Major Snodgrass. The ex-bureau agent sug- 
gested another. But strong objections were urged to both 
these men. Then I suggested that if not one native white 
man could be found, a negro ought to be put upon the ticket. 
At first this suggestion was laughed at. This aroused me to 
defend my idea, and I said: 

"Why, gentlemen, the freed people are about the only 
true friends we have here; remove them out of the country 
and you will have removed the necessity for a convention. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 137 

How absurd, then, to lauo;h at mj suojgestion ! And if it be 
true that Major Snodgrass cannot be trusted, it is pkinly our 
duty to convince the people most concerned at the very out- 
set, that we may be beyond question. Therefore, allow them 
to select one of their number to go to the convention, just 
to look on, if for nothing else." There were no freedmen 
present, and not one of our number was able to say whether 
there were any who desired to have one of their number on 
the ticket. 

" Besides," as was declared, " we don't want either rebels or 
negroes in that convention." An opportunity is ottered us 
Northern men to take control of the State and run it " loyal 
end foremost." There was enough talent in the State at 
large, they said, to doit; and the loyal people of the nation 
would stand by them, as they believed, to the end. 

*'i3ut," saidi," suppose after you shall have set up a 'loyal' 
State government, the rebs should conclude that they pre- 
ferred their former slaves, whom they know well, rather than 
Yankees, for their rulers, and should nominate and with the 
aid of the freed people, elect them to fill the offices. Then 
after you shall have left the State, as likely you will gladly 
do, in such a case, what if these same rebels should turn right 
around and put out the freedmen with officers elected from 
among themselves, how far will you have got in establishing 
a new order of things down here?" 

Now I had had no experience whatever in political aftairs, 
but these objections to their plan suggested themselves to me 
at once. 

They re;.lied that no such contingency could arise, for 
having once got control, a way would be found to keep it. 
Besides, as they argued, the freed people would remain loyal 
to them, because they were indebted to them for their free- 
dom, and the rebels would die before they could be' brought 
to vote for the negroes. The ex-bureau agent and one other 
agreed with me. 

When I related these interviews to Charles he became 



138 YAZOO ; OR, 

more urgent than ever in his wishes that I shouhl go to the 
convention, and I began to feel that it might be my duty ta 
do 80. 

The ex-bureau agent and myself held several consultations 
together upon the subject, and he agreed to see Major 
Snodgrass and the gentleman he had himself mentioned, and 
endeavor to induce one of them to come out on a ticket with 
us for the convention. One of them at first thought well of 
the idea, but after several days' delay he concluded that he 
would have to '^sacrifice" too much in doing so to justify 
the step. During this delay a delegation of freedmen from 
Yazoo City came to me and asked me to consent to be a can- 
didate on a ticket with one of their number. This I prom- 
ised to do if they could induce some one of the native whites 
to take the other place. They replied that they had visited 
me at the suggestion of certain poor white men, who did not 
dare to be known as moving in the matter themselves, but 
would come out openly as soon as the ice had been broken 
by the new government. 

Major Snodgrass was a wealthy planter and would, I believed, 
be a fair representative of the native " property " class, and a 
faithful one too. I believe those freedmen made an honest 
effort to induce the Major to allow them to put his name on 
their ticket. But he refused,and after some time spent in a fruit- 
less search for a native white man willing to accept the place, 
I consented to stand on a ticket with a freedman, a blacksmith 
named WiUiam Leonard, and Charles W. Clark, an ex- Union 
officer, who had been " trying " to plant in that neighbor- 
hood. The opposing ticket had been in the field two or three 
weeks, and the candidates had done some canvassing in the 
country districts as well as in Yazoo City. 

It was on the last day before the election that our ticket 
was launched, so there would be no time for speech-making 
or other "campaign work." 

But that was a " mighty " interesting campaign for all 
that, and some of the fruits of it remain to this day. That 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 139 

Yazoo graveyard cannot hide them all. They still live and 
thrive, and, whether in the midst of timid children huddled 
together in a " nigger school," or among that band of jolly 
revellers surrounding that Yazoo jail last Christmas eve, with 
tongues lolling, and hands red with the blood of those young 
men whom that election inspired with courage to hope for 
kinship with freemen, the fruits of that day's work will stand 
forever, to mock, when their fear cometh upon them, the 
''high-toned, honorable gentlemen, by G — d, sir," of the 
*' banner county of Mississippi," who that day passed by on 
the other side and scofled at the poor, blind Samson deposit- 
ing his first ballot in a box that was held out to him upon 
the point of a bayonet. 



140 YAZOO ; OR. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



A SECOND DAY AMONG THE FREED PEOPLE IN YAZOO — WHEN, 
WHERE, HOW AND WHY I BECAME A "DICTATOR." — AN ELEC- 
TION IN YAZOO WHEN " ONLY NIGGERS " VOTE. 

IT i» an historical fact, well known, of course, that the recon- 
struction acts of Congress were passed to " laws of the 
United States" over the spiteful vetoes of that " tailor, Andy " 
Johnson. It was not then, however, nor is it yet, so gener- 
ally well known as it should be, that those acts were also 
passed in spite of all the patronage of the President's 
great oflBce, and that the agents appointed to execute them 
were more or less in sympathy with the fierce opposition to 
them which in the South existed anions: the former slave- 
holding class, with rare exceptions, and in the North assuredly 
extended beyond the ranks of the Deoaocratic party, so 
called. 

In Yazoo, among "■ we all adventurers," it was enough to 
know that those acts had become laws. As for myself, I knew 
as little as one well could, and know anything of the fierce 
stress through which they had passed. That they voiced the 
mind and the heart of the nation upon the questions they 
were intended and confidently (?) expected to solve,* I had 
no doubt. Therefore I was not bothered with any such ques- 
tions as : 

*The country has yet to learn that those much-maligned acts have succeeded in accom- 
plishing God's purposes toward the negro far beyond the expectations of their framera. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 141 

" How will jour action in consenting to be a candidate 
upon a ticket with a ^ nigger ' aflect your standing with respect- 
able people ? " 

Indeed, the only question that had given me any trouble 
was of an entirely different sort. It would have been stated 
thus: '^ Should you run away from this tight, and disaster 
befall the national cause, what will your old comrades in arms, 
and all the loyal people of the country say, who are acquainted 
with the true state of things here and with your known feel- 
ings and principles ?" 

Physically I had all my life been a coward. I presume 
this resulted from my training; for when a lad at school 
my father had warned me that he meant to punish me 
severely whenever it should come to his knowledge that I had 
been '^ fighting" with my school fellows — a " barbarous prac- 
tice," he said; and I well recollect that on one occasion I had 
seized a big Irish boy, who had been teasing my younger 
brother, and thrown him to the ground, where I held him 
firmly until he not only begged for mercy, but over and over 
promised not to do so any more. And I had justified myself 
to my father by presenting the proof that I had not struck 
the boy. Although the matter cost father much anxious 
thou'^ht and was a subject of prayer for several days, he 
finally reached the conclusion that, in that case, I had but 
executed the will of the Lord; leaving the question as ta 
whether I had done it in a proper manner for further consid- 
eration . 

During all my experience in the army I was never once 
able to get myself in range of the enemy's guns, except by the 
sheer force of my will over my physical members, which 
were always stricken as with palsy ^' just before the battle," 
however firm they might become when once the " ball '' 
had opened. Therefore, though I had a faint conception of 
the character of the enemy, massed behind the opposition to 
" nigro voting," no sooner had my resolution to become a 
« nigger candidate " been announced, than I at once felt all 



142 YAZOO ; OR, 

the physical symptoms premonitory of the " imminent deadly 
breach " between myself and " all the world " — in Yazoo. 

Under and by virtue of the authority vested in him by the 
laws of the United States^ the commanding general had ap- 
pointed three registrars for Yazoo County, whose duty it was, 
by those same laws, to make a list of the persons residing in 
that county, who, under the law, were entitled to vote, and 
for several weeks prior to the conclusion I had reached as to 
my duty in the premises, these registrars had been preparing 
such a list. It had been ' completed, and the commanding 
general had issued his proclamation, according to law, set- 
ting the time when the election would be holden and pre- 
scribing the manner of conducting it. 

Under that proclamation tbe election would be held by 
those registrars, assisted by a corps of judges and clei'ka 
chosen from among the citizens of the county. According to 
the law it was requisite that one of those registrars should 
be present at each polling place one whole day, and, as there 
were fifteen polling-places it followed of necessity that the 
election for the entire county would require five days, an'd it 
had been so arranged. 

For some time before it was to commence, printed posters 
had been distributed throughout the county and put up at all 
the cross-roads and polling-places, in addition to the usual 
notice in the local ne\t'spapers. 

As our decision was not arrived at until the day before 
the election was to commence, and we could do nothing 
without tickets, it was apparent that an election was likely 
to be held in three precincts of the county before we could 
get " before the people." Besides, on examining our ex- 
chequer, we found there was not enough cash on hand with 
which to pay for printing the tickets. At one of the news- 
paper offices they flatly refused to print them for us without 
the cash in advance. But we succeeded at last, by promising 
^ not to tell," in getting a rather poverty-stricken " devil '' 
to guarantee to have " a part " of the five thousand we 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 143 

wished " struck otf " ready " 'gin night come on/' to start 
with, and arrangements were soon made lor forwarding the 
balance as our necessities might require. 

Captain Clark got possession of a small lot and entered 
on his part of the work of the campaign, during the first day 
of the election. But it was night before I got my supply, 
and was started off on horseback to travel twenty-seven 
miles to the place where the election for the following day, 
on my part of the line, was to be held. 

One of a " delegation " of freedmen who had attended the 
meeting the night before accompanied me. He was em- 
ployed on the plantation of Captain Bullfinch, a strong Union 
man during the war, aud now a secret friend of our cause, 
whose residence was in the " hill country," about mid- way our 
journey. It was late at night when we arrived at the plan- 
tation. Here my guide insisted that I should stop for the 
night and go on to the polling-place the following day. He 
knew his " old marsa's " feelings toward the Yankees. No 
sooner had we reined in our horses, than the guide ran to the 
great house and aroused the Captain, who appeared in per- 
son, at the front door, and welcomed me heartily. Then 
the guide left us at once, as I supposed, to put up our horses. 
I was mistaken, however, for in less than fifteen minutes, 
several of the better class of the Captain's force were gathered 
about the porch to see and shake hands with their " great 
friend." The Captain enjoyed it as much as l,and appeared 
to encourage them in what they did. Indeed, his wife 
and another lady of bis household, having been " warned " 
came down, and joined in the welcome. 

The fact is, my guide had " sont " word by a fellow-servant 
that I would accompany him. 

They had all remained up until after ten o'clock expecting 
me, and had retired only when they had given up my com- 
ing that night. When I remarked that the guide had neg- 
lected to inform me that I was " expected," the Captain's 
wife replied that he had been instructed to ;] it^ had better 
** not be known." 



144 YAZOO; OR, 

After an elegant breakfast, and I was about to ride on, 
both the Captain and his wife begged me to make their house 
a " refuge " for myself and frieuds whenever I might wish, 
and to command their services at any time, when to oblige me 
in any way would not require too great a " sacrifice "* on 
their part. 

This man owned nearly six thousand acres of land in the 
county; worked on his diiierent plantations more than a hun- 
dred and fifty people, was a good, kind, patriotic citizen, and 
yet did not dare let it be published abroad that he had enter- 
tained " a Yankee " at his house, though the " rebels " had 
*' surrendered " two years and more before. 

It had been *' sun up " an hour before I got off. The ride 
was about fourteen miles. But I was at the polling-place 
before the voters began to arrive. Inquiring of the officers 
of election the supposed cause of their tardiness, I found that 
none could account for it. There had been only about one- 
fourth, or possibly one-third, of the registered voters of the 
precinct at the polling-place the day before who had voted, they 
said, and what struck me as more unaccountable still, was 
their assurance that '^ none of the whites were voting.'* 
Several of Captain Bullfinch's people had accompanied me, 
and after reflecting a few moments, I asked them for their 
opinion of the cause. 

"Dey is afeer'd, Kunnel, de colud people is, an' da doan 
know yo' is y'here with dem. 'Sides, de white folks don' 
'low'd dar aint g'wain ter be no 'lection, no how." 

" Ah ! ha ! that's it, eh ' " 

" Yes, sah. Mars Kunnel, dat's jes de way h'it ar', kase I 
done heerd um say down ter Benton, ter Mars Leedam's sto' 
how dey g'wain fur ter keep all day niggars frum votin' on da 
own 'count, kase dey wouldn't vote no how. 'Twau't no 
'lection, dey 'low'd." 

" Well," said I, calling him by name, "you go one way to 
some of your old fellow-servants;" and then to another one, 

*Too great a sacrifice of reputation and possibly of property. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 145 

*'you go another, and tell them all to come here, I wish to 
see them."* 

In a moment they were off, on a fast trot, and I started out 
myself, following a blind path to see what I might be able to 
do in the way of helping to find the " lost" suffragans of Yazoo. 
I had proceeded about a mile, when, looking across a large 
open field, I saw what appeared to be a freedman, standing 
on the brow of a little hill "Now," I said to myself, ''I'll 
call this man, and see if I can't enlist him in the search." 
Waving my hat toward him, in token of my wish to have 
him come to me, he started as if to do so, but in a very halt- 
ing manner. Then I aliirhtecl, hitched my horse and advanced 
to meet him. As we approached, I could see that he was in 
great fear about something, and I spoke up in a kindly voice: 

" Uncle, why are you not at the election ?'' 

The change in his manner reminded me of Uncle Isam, as 
he replied : 

"Doan know, marsa." 

"Have you registered ?" 

" Yes, marsa; done got my paper." 

" Where is it ?" 

" Low'd Beez yo' de gen'leman whar gi'e it to me ?" 

" No, my name is Morgan." 

At this, the change in his manner still further reminded me 
of Uncle Isam, especially as he came close up. 

" Beez yo' de Colonel Morgan, w^har lib yan in de 'Azoo 
City ? " 

" Yes." 

"WuU, I d'clar'! Dey done 'low'd yo' is dead wid de 
col'ra. Bress de Good Marsta, do, yo' ain't. 'Low'd yo' 
might be de Kunnel when I done seed ye a coming yan, 
kase we done heerd frum one ouah feller-servants yo' cloze 
by Benton. Mighty likely yo' mount a come dis y'here 
way." 

Bat there were other surprises in store for me; for, see- 

* Now the "bull" had opened. 

IOy 



146 YAZOO ; OR, 

ing his free and changed manner, several freedmen, wha 
had remained hidden just over the hill from whence he had 
come, and entirely out of view until now, showed themselves. 
First, only their heads, as though peering at us, an J now their 
bodies, standing. We walked up to them, when I found 
quite a large number, still lying upon the ground beyond the 
hill in a clump of trees. 

These " outposts," becoming satisfied that I was, in fact^ 
the person they had all heard so much about, but " nebber 
seed t'wel yit," shouted to those over the hill to come and 
join us, which they very promptly did. From their number 
I chose out several, vvhom I sent off after more, and the rest 
of us started for the polling-place. One of the number had 
a gun, a bird gun, which I requested him to take back home, 
assuring him that the Government at Washington was hold- 
ing this election. At all events, there would be no need of 
such weapons at the polls, and he most cheerfully complied. 

While on my way back to the polling-place, these poor 
people could not do enough for me, it seemed. They un- 
hitched my horse, held my stirrup, and waited on me with as 
much deference, respect, and devotion, as if in their souls they 
felt that I was their deliverer. 

I also gathered from thera, as we walked along to the poll- 
ing-place, among other things, that they had been told by 
their masters that there would be no election, and as if to 
prove the truth of this assertion, their masters had them- 
selves remained at home. Some of these freedmen said they 
had heard threats made to the effect that if they went to the 
polling-places they would be killed. But, without previous 
concert, they had started to go, and falling in with each other 
on their several ways, they had become quite a numerous 
company by the time they reached the field where I found 
them. Here they had halted to talk the subject over, and 
had resolved to send one of their number on to the polling- 
place to " sarch for de troof." This was the man whom I 
first spied. Among their number was a preacher, who had 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 147 

recently attended conference, where he had been told of the 
proposed election, and how it would be conducted. 

Arriving at the place of voting we found several freedraen 
there who had been "warned" by the two whom I had sent out 
and quite agoodly number besides. My opponent had captured 
some of these, however, and secured their votes for himself. 
On my arrival there in the morning, he appeared as much 
at a loss to understand why the people generally had not turned 
out to vote as any one else. Nor had he made any eft'ort to 
find out — at least none such as I was making — and when 
the crowd which came with me arrived, of course he set out 
to capture them from me. 

Mounting a wagon standing near the cross-roads grocery, 
he began his etforts in that direction by a speech, which he 
opened thus : 

"Fellow-citizens and my colored friends." Then address- 
ing himself altogether to the freedmen he informed them 
that he had no quarrel with " the white gentlemen present ;" 
that he had been in the Federal army and was a Yankee the 
same as his opponent ; that his opponent was a gentleman 
and all that, but he was a very young man, and without 
experience in public aifairs, while, as they could all see, he 
was a man well advanced in years. He also informed them 
that he had outranked me in the army, and that he was the 
regular " Republican candidate ;" his ticket was the only 
Republican ticket in the field. Then he reminded them that 
Mr. Lincoln, whose proclamation had made them all free, 
was a Republican ; also of their duty to stand by the party 
that made them free, and then announced the platform on 
which the Republican — the " great Republican party " — stood, 
upon which he should stand " until death." It favored free 
speech, free men, free schools; it favored the right of the 
colored men to vote, the opening of the courts to them, and 
that they should receive fair wages ; that whipping, brand- 
ing and hunting them with hounds, and all that sort of thing 
should stop ; that colored people should be allowed to own 



148 YAZOO; OR, 

land and their wives and daughters like other people, or 
words to that effect. He concluded his remarks by inform- 
ing the " colored friends " that the colored man on our ticket 
was a blacksmith, without property or education — could 
scarcely read or write, if he could do either at all, and that 
he could not be of any service in the convention more than 
to vote. 

During the delivery of this speech there had been but slight 
manifestations of approval or sympathy from the freed 
people. They had remained almost as impassive as clay. 
When he ceased I got up on the wagon and replied briefly, 
in substance as follows : 

" Fellow citizens : My platform is much the same as Gene- 
ral Greenleaf's. I have never voted any other than the 
Repubhcan ticket, and am a Republican." Then I explained 
that I could not see any difference in the tickets in point of 
"■ regularity," as we had all nominated ourselves, so to speak; 
that the difference between the General and myself was very 
great, yet very simple. I wished to see all men have and enjoy 
the right to vote, to hold office, be equals in the eye of the law. 
I wished to see free schools for all, courts and highways for 
all, fair wages for all, and lands for all who would work and 
earn them. " I wish to see you all, you, your wives and your 
daughters,living so above just reproach and so protected bythe 
laws that no white, black, or other kind of man or woman 
either will dare to interfere with your enjoyment of each 
other's company." And, as to the colored man on our ticket, 
I explained that we had striven very hard to induce a native 
white man to stand, but had not succeeded in finding any 
w^ho would ; that we had done the next best thing we could 
think of, and put a freed man in the place. We would have 
been glad to have had but one "Yankee'' on the ticket. 
Could we have got a native to stand then we would have had 
a ticket made up from all classes, and could have gone 
forward like a band of brethren in the work of reconstructing 
the State. I declared that I did not seeL<: the office for myself, 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 149 

but for a principle; one which they might not all readily com- 
prehend at first, but I hoped and believed they would event- 
ually do so. 

There could not have been more than a half dozen white 
men present, but I had addressed my remarks to them as 
much as to the colored people. 

From the moment 1 began the interest of the freed peo- 
ple in my speech was apparent to all, and that interest con- 
tinued to increase until they voiced their approval somewhat 
as follows : 

'' Dat's de talk, gen'lemens; yo' 'heah me. Dar! I toleye 
hit wor' de Kunnel from de fust. Can't fool me.* Now 
yo's a tellin' de troof," etc. 

Seeing my success, my opponent undertook to entice them 
to his support by offering to treat. But he signally failed in 
that also. The few white men present looked on with the 
supremest indifference, if not contempt. 

At the polling-place the next day there were a great many- 
whites and two or three hundred freedmeu. Having heard 
of the failure of their plan to " fool the darkies," they were 
now bent on coaxing, buying, or intimidating them at the 
polls, and the " pulling and hauling" process began early in 
the day. Failing to coax or to buy them from voting, later 
in the day they began to threaten the freedmen. 

The lists of names of all who had registered were in the 
hands of the judges, who caused the name of each one to be 
checked otf at the moment of casting the ballot, so that 
it was impossible to prevent their old masters from knowing 
the fact that such a one had voted. Therefore, all who 
would vote subjected theniselves to such vengeance as their 
old masters might choose to inflict. 

During the day there was some speech-making by the late 
rebels, by my opponent, and by myself. The crowd was list- 
ening to me, when an old white man, who had elbowed his 
way until he was close up in front, inquired : 

* Some one had told hira I was not Colonel Morgan, of Yazoo City, but another of th« 
same name, who had come from Jackson. 



150 YAZOO ; OR, 

" What yo' all g'wain ter do with our niggers, now you all 
done stole um f om we all ? " 

" Make men of them," I replied. 

" Men, hell ! " 

''Yes, men; we're not in favor of opposing any honest 
efibrt in that direction, at all events." 

" Well, how ye g'wain ter make men outen of um ?" 

" Build school-houses and educate them." 

^' Edecate niggers ! Yo' mount ez well try ter larn a mool 
ter read an' write, ez ter try ter larn a nigger." 

** Well, we propose to make the trial." 

" Yo' all 'low ye can larn a nigger ter read an' write ? " 

«' Yes." 

" Yo' lie ! d— n yo' ! " 



ON THE PICKET LIXE OF FREEDOM. 151 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE FOLLY OF WISDOM — COURAGE OF MY NEW FRIENDS — A TRI- 
UMPHANT *^ VINDICATION " — AN "honest" DIFFERENCE OF 
OPINION — UNHEEDED WARNINGS. 

THE poor ignorant fellow who closed the last chapter was 
merely a tool for a crowd of " genteel " white planters, 
hanging upon the outskirts of the audience and making fun 
of us while cheering him on. 

Meanwhile the freedmen had warmed up, and as many as 
had sticks in their hands crowded close around me as though 
they would make a wall of their bodies for my protection. 

When the intruder gave the lie, several of the older and 
calmer freedmen about me exclaimed: 

" Doan pay no 'tention to 'im, Kunnel. He no 'count, no 
way. Jes' stan' yo' groun' an' we'll die by ye." 

As that was the prevailing custom, the freedmen evidently 
feared 1 should resent the speech of my interlocutor. But I 
had no such idea, and kept right on with my talk. Finding 
they could not draw me into a personal quarrel, the " gen- 
teel" planters gave up the day, and all rode off, halloaing 
and cursing " that d — d radical Congress," the " Yankees,'' 
the " ungrateful nigros," and almost everything else. 

After the polls closed, and I was riding toward the poll- 
ing-place of the next day, it being not yet dark, a shot, fired 
from near the roadside, passed whizzing by, so close to my 



152 YAZOO ; OR, 

head that I distinctly felt the force of the bullet. But it 
was not billeted with my name. It was long after dark when 
I reached Benton, but there were as many as three hundred 
freedmen awaiting my arrival just beyond the town, along- 
side the public highway. They had sent a " runner " to meet 
me, and to ask me to make them a speech. They said they 
had been unable to obtain any other place of meeting. 

After talking a few moments to them,. I rode out to the 
home of Captain Bullfinch, where I was hospitably received 
and entertained. It was the first time since I had left him, 
nearly two days before, that I had been thus received by a 
white man. The following day, the incidents at Benton were 
quite similar to those of the day preceding. Our trials were not 
less on the next day, nor on the day following at Yazoo City, 
where this election was brought to a close. When the ballots 
were all counted it was found that the question, " Convention 
or no convention," was decided in the afiirmative, by a vote 
of more than eighteen hundred " for," to only three " against." 
The three votes "against" convention had probably been cast 
in obedience to a feature of the " plan " of the " anti- Yankee'*' 
element, which may appear further on in this narrative. It 
was also found that thj " Morgan ticket" was elected by a 
vote of quite fifteen hundred, to less than four hundred for 
the " Yankee's ticket," as my opponents ticket came to be 
called. The result staggered the natives. 

They had hoped to succeed in their plan of deceiving the 
negroes as to the importance of their votes upon that question 
by staying away from the polls themselves. When they dis- 
covered that they had failed, they deluded themselves into 
the belief that they could, by making fair promises to " our 
nigros," persuade them to have faith in their sincerity. And 
they showed their utter ignorance of the character of the free 
negro, by trying to bribe him not- to vote, when the other 
two means had failed ; and they added to their duplicity, 
treachery and ignorance, still another quality, viz., brutality, 
when at last they resorted to intimidation to accomplish their 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 153^ 

purpose. This election demonstrated their possession of still 
another trait, viz., bossism. 

I knew that there were more than two hundred white men 
in that county who had sympathized with the Union cause 
during the war, and whose best judgment approved the Con- 
gressional plan of reconstruction, and they would have voted 
" for" convention could they have done so without the dan- 
ger of incurring the same hostility that had been visited 
upon us. 

" Were they moral cowards ?" 

^' No." 

The most prominent of their number had been hung to a 
tree until he promised to pull down from his house-top the 
American flag which he had unfurled there during the 
canvass for the " secession convention," in 1860. And there 
had never been atonement made, nor any redress offered. 
He could not vote at this election a secret ballot, because 
those same men who had " grapevined " him in 1860, stood 
by to warn him that " nobody but niggers " were voting at this 
election. ^' Take care, remember 1860." 

The anti-reconstructionists preferred that the negroes should 
vote the " Yankee ticket," if they voted any, and throughout 
the county so advised them. Their reason for this was that 
should it be elected they might be able to say that a "foreign"^ 
government had been set over them, through which pretense 
they could more certainly hold their own ranks together. But 
in almost every instance such advice operated to secure more 
votes for the '^ Morgan ticket," and when the election was 
over the chairman of the " white man's " committee assured 
me that he had discovered his "mistake" too late. I might,, 
however, be certain that should I ever again offer myself as 
a candidate for office in the county, he would not repeat it. 
This man further assured me that he was '' amazed " at the 
intelligence exhibited by the negroes; confessed himself 
" mistaken " in his estimate of their character ; confessed 
that he and his friends had "intended" to deceive them, 



154 YAZOO; Oil, 

believing it to be for the best good of all to do so ; confessed 
that I had conducted my campaign '' with perfect fairness," 
that he would have done just as I did had he been in my 
place, barring my refusal to fight; that had he been a'^nigro" 
he would have done precisely as the negroes had, and voted 
for me; and that the white people could justify themselves in 
their course, only upon the ground : First, that they had had 
CO voice in framing the laws under which the "so-called elec- 
tion " had been held ; secondly, that they had purchased and 
" owned the nigro or raised him," and could not be expected 
to consent to his sudden elevation to the rank of equal citizen- 
ship with themselves upon the request of strangers ; and third, 
the Southetn people do not believe that the North is sincere 
in the efibrt put forth to " force nigro equality " on the South, 
and do believe that it is altogether prompted by a fear among 
the radical leaders that the Emancipation Proclamation is null 
and void ; that the war on the part of the North upon the 
South was an unconstitutional war ; that they, the radicals, 
will lose their power in a few years, unless they can make up 
for defections, which are certain in the North as soon as the 
war feeling dies down a little, by additions from the South, 
and as the defection of " Andy " Johnson has shown that they 
cannot hope to gain that from the whites of the South they 
mean to lasso the whites with the negro vote and keep them 
in subjection until they shall have fully accomplished their 
purposes. 

And then this Yazoo white statesman, laughingly contin- 
ued: " And as for you, and all like you, who join your faith 
to these radicals and to the nigro, they will have no more 
use for you then than they now have for the paper in their 
waste baskets. Then it will be our turn, and woe be to you." 

T thanked this man for his advice, and for the very sincere 
manner he had manifested, but assured him that I would 
abide the consequences, and in such an event, would never 
come to him, nor to any who believed with him for succor 
nor for sympathy. 

*^It's an honest difference of opinion," I said, " and you 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 155 

mu3t allow me to hope, that while this is going on, we shall 
have large and voluntary accessions from your side to ours, 
right here, in Yazoo, and shall then be able to take care of 
ourselves." 

Then he— 

'•Don't you fool yourself, young man. We donH intend to 
allow you to gain any from our side that we can't get back when 
we all shall need them.'''' 



156 YAZOO; OR, 



CHAPTER XX. 

DELIVERER AND DICTATOR — COUNTING THE COST — LES MISERA- 
BLES — STRAW FOR BRICKS. 

IT "was through the trials and by such means as I have 
herein faithfully recounted that I became known to the 
whites of Mississippi as a " « ictator," and among the blacks as 
a " saviour." The convention was carried in the State and 
the delegates would assemble January 7th following, 1868, at 
Jackson, the capital. 

During this campaign I did not expend so much as one cent 
for " treats," or for any purpose calculated to induce any one 
to vote our ticket. The total expenses of the campaign 
amounted to fifty-five dollars for tickets, and six dollars for 
horse hire. Of this amount twenty dollars thirty-three and 
one-third cents was my share. 

Recovering from the first shock of their defeat, the native 
whites resolved upon a new course. For a time it had. 
seemed that they were divided in their plans ; for one party 
said : " Now let's wait and see what the convention does 
before we decide on our policy." The other said : " D — n. 
the convention. Let's drive it from the State." 

The former volunteered their advice to me, as to the course 
I should pursue to win the support of a " respectable follow- 
ing." The other endeavored bj flattery and by proffers of 
a mock sympathy for the defeated candidates upon the " Yan- 
kee ticket," to win them to open hostility to the Yankeea 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 157 

'Upon the '^'Morgan ticket," and to the whole boclj of the freed 
,people. This" disgaste I those very worthy bat short-sighted 
men more than their defeat had done, and so two of the three 
left the county, protesting that it was " beyond hope of re- 
demption." 

Meanwhile, reduced in circumstances as I was^ I suc- 
ceeded, by the sale of a quantity of refuse lumber that had 
been overlooked by Colonel Black, in raising money enough 
to purchase a suit of clothes to wear to the convention, and 
to pay my expenses in going there and for a week or so after 
my arrival at the capital. 

On the morning of my departure I waited at the post- 
office in the company of the postmaster and other friends, 
black and white — negroes and Yankees all — until the stase 
drove up. When it came, I took my seat along with other 
passengers, male and female, some of whom were natives 
and some drummers for Northern mercantile houses. The 
white women appeared not to know me. The native white 
men did, and to my cheerful salutatio«, " Good-morning, all 
— room for me ?" they scowled and barely nodded. But the 
drummers returned my salutation cheerily and one of ihem 
" hitched along," making room for me to sit down. But I 
was not to be allowed to go in peace; for, espying me as I got 
up into the stage, a handful of white urchins began halloa- 
ing, " O'oophie !" '' O'oophie !"' " polecat !" The drummers 
seemed not to know what this meant nor to whom, if to any 
one, it was directed; and one of them inquired of me about it. 

But at that moment there appeared a dozen or more 
loungers near the corner, some of them full-grown men, others 
half-grown, wh> approached the stage door, and, making 
horrid grimaces, ejaculated: ^' Halloa, polecat !"* " Whar 
ye goin', polecat! g'wain ter de nigger convention ?" " 11a i 
ha! ha! He! he! he!" " Well, good-bye, Morgan. Take 

*The epithet, "ciirpet-b!ij,",'er," had not yet been iuvented, or, if coined, had not vet 
reacheil tlie Yumo channels oI' trade in such thinj^.s. Tlie " liouor" of its invention is 
claime<l for Virginia by some, and for Horace Greeley bv others. However that may be 
the epithet represents not .so much a moUilied state of feeling on the part of the "enemv '' 
.asa ehauLje in llieir iliplo.nuic ai.'tliols, adopted for ellcet upon the "jnry " at the 
■North, tlien and ever since, in a measure, sitthig at their (the enemy's) trial. 



158 YAZOO; OR, 

good car' jo'self. Haw! haw! haw?" Then the driver hav- 
ing got his mail on board, cracked his whip, and away we 
sped on our journey of twenty-six miles to the railway sta- 
tion. But from the moment the boys began to shout, 
"O'oophie," the " white ladies " showed signs of uneasiness. 
One of them coughed, while the white native " gentlemen " 
fiercely scowled. When the loungers appeared at the stage- 
door, and joined in the outcry, these native " gentlemen " 
smiled approvingly upon them. By the time we were off, 
above the crack of the driver's whip and the rumbling of 
the stage, arose the shouts of this rabble, " O'oophie !" " pole- 
cat!" " Morgan!" '' O'oophie I" until we were out of hearing 
of them. Of course f was relieved of the necessity of an- 
swering the drummer's inquiry. He had already joined the 
rabble, and during our ride together, which was as far as the 
next station, Benton, where he left us for the purpose of intro- 
ducing his firm to the merchants of that '^ berg," as he in- 
formed us, he was the most offensive in his speech and man - 
ner of the whole compa*iy. All the drummers " cut " me at 
once, and my ride was anything but a pleasant one. 

At Benton there were similar cries after me as at Yazoo 
City, when we started ; also at Deasonville, the next sta- 
tion, and at the railway depot. On entering the car my 
identity was made known to other delegates on board, who 
were en route from counties in the northern part of the State 
by these very cries; for nearly all of them had passed through 
a similar experience. In fact none of us were spared now 
that we were on board of the train, but were marked for all 
manner of jest, scorn, or violent abuse, according to the tem- 
per and gifts of our fellow-passengers, some of whom were 
en route to the capital to " see the fun." Very naturally 
these " outcasts " came together and formed a group by our- 
selves ; for, all the world over, ** misery loves company." 

The scope of this narrative will not admit of any refer- 
ence to my experiences during this period outside the limits 
of Yazoo County, nor during my term of four years in the 
State Senate afterward. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM, 159 

Someliow, my experiences as a planter, with the courts, 
and with the Yazoo County bar had given me an uncontrol- 
lable desire for the study of the law, with a view to adopting 
it as a profession, and I applied myself assiduously to that 
end. I lacked the collegiate training which would have en- 
abled me to grasp more readily the intricacies of the profes- 
sion, but I had already had that experience with men and 
their affairs which I believed would, in a large measure, make 
up for this defect. 

Then, too, behind this ambition was a consciousness that 
I had failed to obtain this higher training, not from lack of 
thirst for knowledge, but from a still nobler inheritance, 
which I venture to call a spirit of youthful patriotism and 
a willingness to sacrifice self in the service of others. I felt 
sure that this consciousness would enable me to batter down 
such obstacles as I could not overleap while pursuing the 
goal of my ambition. 

" Where there's a will there's always a way" I said; and so 
it came about, that within a period of eighteen months from 
the date of my election to the convention, I was admitted to 
practise law in the courts of Mississippi; a result achieved 
after an examination by a committee of three of the oldest 
members of the Yazoo bar, and upon their recommendation. 
It was cause for no little self-gratulation that one of this com- 
mittee was the surviving member of the firm who were Mrs. 
Black's lawyers. 

During this time Charles and I passed through the most 
trying period of our experience in Yazoo. It was a season 
of trial, however, which bore more heavily upon him than 
me, and called out all the virtues of his grand character. 

After my departure for the convention, he succeeded in 
obtaining board in the home of a resident of the town — a 
widow lady of rare good breeding, benevolence and courage. 
Her husband had been a planter of considerable means. The 
loss of their slave property and other misfortunes had strip- 
ped them of the bulk of their worldly possessions, however. 



160 YAZOO ; OR, 

and at his death she found herself in such straitened cir- 
cumstances that she felt justified in opening her house " even 
to Yankees." She was a Christian lady, devoted to her 
chursh duties and the care of her family, consisting of two 
girls and two boys, and her great ambition was to educate a 
son for the medical profession. No lady in the county was 
more highly thought of than she. But in an hour, as it were, 
this noble woman, battling for her children and her daily 
bread, was made an outcast. It came about in this way: 

The postmaster, who was a Yankee, and the other 
Northern men had previously been received by her as board- 
ers. But within sixty days from the admission to her house 
of General Greenleaf and Charles, the feeling in Yazoo had 
increased until it became such a reign of terror that even 
General Alvin C. Gillem, President Johnson's personal friend 
and trusted commanding general of the department, was 
induced to send a squad of troops there for the protection of 
the freedmen and loyalists. But the otJicer in command of 
these soldiers, upon his arrival, was seized by Colonel Black 
and his friends, " anti-Yankees," and welcomed at their 
houses, dined, wined, and petted by both sexes, until he 
became the drunken tool that he was for the furtherance of 
their purposes. 

When they had thus wrought upon him, there was sent to 
that Southern widow lady the following note of warning: 

" Mrs. , you are keeping a den of infamy, which will 

be burnt down if you don't purge it out. An outraged South- 
ern community won't stand it long. Beware ! ! K. K. K." 

This lady became hotly indignant at the outrage, and for 
a brief space resented it. 

Of her nine regular and transient Yankee boarders but 
two used any kind of intoxicating liquors, and only three 
used tobacco. Three were college graduates; one had com- 
manded a brigade; two had been colonels of regiment; two 
had been captains of companies. One of these captains had 
been a quartermaster on theetaff of General Thomas. Those 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 161 

men had brought into and invested in the county sums of 
money aggregating not less than one hundred thousand dol- 
lars; probably it was more than two hundred thousand. 

Upon receipt of the kuklux warning, their landladji 
openly declared that she had never welcomed to her house 
more perfect gentlemen. The authors of that '' warning" 
message knew that, and it was that fact which prompted and, 
in Yazoo, justified their action; for it was these very quali- 
ties that made them powerful in resources for resisting the 
purposes of the old slave-holders, and made their example 
" dangerous to the institutions of the South." Therefore, 
the best "old time" citizens of Yazoo rudely brushed this 
brave lady to one side and opened hostilities in earnest. 

By way of illustrating the greater effectiveness of their re- 
sources, they " allowed " the officer in command of the troops 
to get drunk oft' their liquors and then to be seen " drunk 
upon the streets."* 

Thus shorn of their strength the soldiers were wrought 
upon with ease; made drunk like their officer — but in the 
low groceries, instead of the elegant homes of Colonel Black 
and his friends — and then cunningly guided to the so-called 
" den of infamy," where, after a scene of debauch in front of 
the house, they were " permitted " to fire oft' their pistols with 
just sufficient accuracy of aim to miss my brother, who opened 
the door at that moment, and perforate the doorfacing of the 
front entrance-way. Then these United States soldiers were 
skillfully " withdrawn " to their quarters, and shortly after- 
ward from the county, on the ground that their commander 
had reported no cause of their presence there for the protection 
of the freedmen, or any one else. 

Prompted by a desire to defend their landlady, Charles and 
General Greenleaf sought for quarters elsewhere in the town. 
But now a new difficulty presented itself. There were more 

* Having accomplished this much, they could enforce complaisance ; for should he 
rebel against their wishes or humors Colonel Black and his friends would only have to 
" make complaint to the headquarters " and prove that he had been seen drunk upon 
the public streets of the town, to have secured his withdrawal from there, and, doubt- 
less, a public exposure of his " weakness." 

llY 



YAZOO 5 ORj 
162 

than fifty widow ladies in the town, who were dependent 
apon their own exertions for a livelihood. Some kept 
boarders^ some rented rooms, while others served at sewing, 
or such other employment as they could obtain for themselves 
and their children. Of their number there was not one who 
did not need, and under any other circumstances would not 
gladly have received these gentlemen as boarders or roomers. 
But now there was not one who durst do so. There were 
numerous houses, offices, or rooms for rent in the town. Yet 
it was not until after considerable manceuvring that these 
gentlemen were able to procure a lodging place. This was 
a suite of rooms near a livery stable, over the office of a law- 
yer, who plumed himself somewhat on his ancestry. They 
were obtained only through the intercession of a third party, 
a man who, at the time, was an officer of the United States. 
For the protection of the owner of those rooms, it had been 
allowed to "^ leak out " that they had been obtained by indirect 
means.* 

Now that a lodging place had been secured, still another 
difficulty presented itself, viz : how to obtain food and ser- 
vice. None of the hotels, restaurants, boarding-houses or 
private-houses, owned or controlled by the whites, would oblige 
them. 

It began to look as though they would be starved into a 

" surrender." It had been understood that if Mrs, 

would dismiss Charles and the General from her house she 
might keep the others. t She had protested earnestly against 
the demand, but Charles and the General believed they could 
^ot, in justice to her, allow the lady to continue the contest. 
Having surrendered this outpost, the anti-reconstructionists 
supposed that persistence in their policy of ostracism and in- 

* There was still remaining in Yazoo so much respect for a Federal officer, as to make 
it tolerably safe for one having the requisite courage to do so, to take upon himself the 
odium such a responsibility entailed, should it become necessary. At all events this 
officer could at that time better bear such a burden than the Unionist, from whom the 
rooms were rented. 

fHaving abandoned all open, active interference in the political affairs of the county, 
those Northern men were no longer special objects of attack from the anti-reconstruc- 
tionists. Of course, the person of the postmaster, being a Yankee in office, and that a 
Federal office, was sacred. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 163 

timidation would necessarily compel their full surrender or 
their retreat from the county. But they were again to be 
foiled ; this time by the freed people. No sooner had they 
learned of this fresh outrage upon their friends, than a negro 
woman came forward and volunteered not only to provide the 
food, but also to cook and serve it for them at actual cost. 

To their warning of the probable consequences to herself 
of such service to them, this woman replied : 

^' Captain, I'z cooked fur my ole marstah all my days, an' 
he nebber gin me so much as a new dress when I quit um. 
Kase I wor free now. Sence dat I'z been cookin' fur de white 
genelmens an' a furnishin' of um thar food, an' I 'low I can 
do jez 'e same fur yo' all. Kase I'm ole now, got no mo'n a 
few yar ter stay y'here on dis si' de dark riber ob death, no 
how : an' my son, yo' all knows him, he sais, sais he, ' Mammy, 
nary schools in dis y'here Azoo County 'fo' de Morgans 
come'd ter dis yar Azoo City, an' sho's yo' boh'n ef dey 
goze frum y'here, dat day de schools go wid um,' an' so dey 
would. I noes um. Kan't fool me, 'f I iz a nigger an' ain't 
got no larnin'. Jeems ha' got some, thank de blessed God 
A'mighty and yo' all Yankees. Doan yo' min' me, honey, jez 
yo' say yo'l nebber be too proud ter eat arter ole Aunt Sarah, 
an' I'l take car' on yo' all, honey, bless ye." 

This grand old woman, the General told me afterward, spoke, 
looked, and acted "just as though she were asking a favor " 
of these outcasts ; and they granted it. But she had con- 
tinued at this service not more than a few days, when, having 
to carry the food some distance, the enemy began first to coax, 
then to try to bribe, then to threaten, and all these failing, 
they actually intercepted her upon the street and spilled her 
dishes. 

Certain freedmen, however, having foreseen such a result, 
one of them, a shoemaker, and a sort of pet with the whites, 
had been able to secure a room upon the ground floor of the 
same building in which the outcasts lodged, and had moved 
himself, family, and shop into it, so that when Aunt Sarah 



164 YAZOO ; OR, 

could no longer perform the service, this shoemaker's wife- 
volunteered to supply her place. This was upon his own 
motion, and for that reason was the more appreciated by the 
outcasts. By reason of the close proximity of this shoe- 
maker's shop, and of a stairway which led from it to the 
back gallery of the rooms of the Yankee outcasts, the food 
could be got to them without danger of being intercepted by 
"the enemy." But that enemy's resources were equal to this 
emergency, for those '-anti- Yankees" not only withdrew their 
custom from this " nigger cobbler " — for such he had now 
become — their merchants refused to sell him food supplies 
for his ^' Yankee boarders." 

And now there was a new, and, to these outcasts, a wholly 
unforeseen way opened for their succor. 

In spite of the edict of the merchants the supplies were 
not cut off'. It was some time before Charles and the Gene- 
ral were afforded any explanation of the mystery. When at 
last it came, it proved a source of great comfort to them, for 
it demonstrated the significance of their example no less than 
the absolute necessity for it, if free institutions were ever to 
take the place of the slaveocratic dynasty that the war had 
disarmed ; for those provisions had been furnished secretly^ 
some by the freed people, delivered through their wash- woman, 
who succeeded in running them through the blockade by hid- 
ing them under the clothes in her basket ; some by a certain 
merchant in the town, while the rest had found their way 
at night to the hands of the shoemaker from boisterous, bull- 
dozing " anti- Yankees," who, in their hearts, still retained 
their old love for the Union cause. 

About this time I visited them. Their quarters had been 
transformed into an arsenal. There were two breech-loading 
Spencer rifles, a double-barrelled shot-gun and two revolvers, 
near by the head of the bed in which they slept. Their win- 
dows were barred with iron, and the only door of their apart- 
ments was doubly bolted with a huge brace for additional 
support. It was during this visit that I learned the facts 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 165 

above narrated, and the additional fact that they were hourly 
■expecting a violent attack from the enemy, who, foiled in 
their effort to starve them out, were now planning to drive 
them out or kill them. The latter alternative it seemed had 
not been fully determined upon, and I was on the eve of 
learning why for myself. 

The incidents of my trip all the way from the capital to 
Yazoo City, were but a repetition of those on the occasion of 
my trip from Yazoo City to the capital, '• only a little more 
so," as the driver of the stage put it to the postmaster after- 
ward. It was a little more so ; for this time I was refused 
meals at all the eating places but one, and a drummer for a 
New York firm wanted " to whip the scalawag," and an- 
nounced to our fellow-passengers that ''such proceedings as 
I witnessed in that radical black-and-tan convention, gentle- 
men, wouldn't be tolerated over night in our State." He 
obtained liberal orders for his house at all the towns on 
the road and at Yazoo City, and announced to his customers 
at the latter place, that he was glad he would be able to say 
to the people of the North when he returned, that the pub- 
lished accounts of" outrages in the South upon Northern gen- 
tlemen are d — d lies." 

At Deasonville I should doubtless have been mobbed but 
for the alacrity of the driver, an old Unionist and a se- 
cret friend, who gathered the reins and rapidly drove on, 
when he saw the signs of it in the threatening actions of the 
white loungers there, one of whom having struck at me, was 
*' reaching for his hip pocket." Having remained in my seat 
he did not dare to shoot after the stage had started, for fear 
of hitting other passengers. My arrival at Yazoo City 
created a sensation. As the stage came rattling over the 
plank-road and down the bluffs into the town below, some 
white loungers on the corner identified me from the other 
passengers in the stage, one of whom shouted back in re- 
sponse to their inquiry: "Is that Morgan?" "Yes, here 
he is, we've got him — the young one." This arrested the 



166 YAZOO ; OR, 

attention of others^ and soon the cry, '* O'oophie !" *^ O'oophie!."" 
" polecat !" " scalawag !" was sounded along the length of the 
street, rallying the white boys from their marbles or other 
play, and causing a crowd to assemble. 

But the driver had the foresight to stop me at the corner 
near the little " Yankee stronghold;" for such had the quar- 
ters occupied by General Greenleaf and Charles really be- 
come — and thus enabled me to elude the mob. 



ON THE PICKEr LINE OF FREEDOM. 167 



CHAPTER XX 

THE TRUE VALUE OF FRIENDSHIP — NONE BUT BLACK AMERICANL- 
ON GUARD TO-NIGHT — AN UNCOVERED SECRET — '' SNAKES " 
AND THEIR USES. 

IN those days it was deemed the safer policy by all Republi- 
can members of that State convention, to travel incog- 
nito and give no notice of their intentions. On this 
occasion I had arranged with my colleague to ask leave 
for me to go after I should have started, and as I left 
by the half-past two A. M. train, I was able to make the 
stage line by daylight, thus preventing telegraphic discovery 
of my whereabouts to the enemy at Yazoo City, or at points 
on the way. So they had not expected me at Yazoo on that 
day. I had not been a half hour within the stronghold, whet, 
it was besieged by a small army of friends, all colored met. 
but one J for now even Northerners found it more to their 
interest not to recognize the outcasts socially, by calling upon 
them at their stronghold. But the welcome of such as came 
was worth some sacrifice; for it at least was genuine; besides, 
it required some courage to boldly visit us in that place with 
any other than hostile intentions. To be sure, these were 
negroes. They were nevertheless brave and sincere friends. 
They had heard of my " fight " in the convention, they said; 
had heard how the Democrats had defied the president of 
that body, the sergeant-at-arms, and even *' Stanton's hire- 



168 YAZOO ; OB, 

lings." How they had drawn pistols, and failed to shoot me 
only because I was ^' a coward " and would not '' draw and 
defend myself." And they had heard how a negro, Charles 
Caldwell, with a little handful of his friends, armed only 
with pistols, had rallied to my side and made them scamper. 

"That's right, Kunnel, stan' yo'r groun'; but doan shoot; 
doan preten' like yo' iz a g'waiu ter shoot, kase dat jes whar 
■dey'I git ye 'f ye does. Dey done said it. I hearn um talk, 
jan in Barksdale's sto' an' Dave Woolridge's saloon. Dey 
is boun' ter git yo', jes giv' um de leas' bit 'f a chance. Min' 
dat; and if'n yo' is killed, den whar will we all be ? Yo' jes 
take car' yo' own se'f, Kunnel; yo' y'hea' me? I done said 
it, kase I noes; jes' yo' keep still and stan' up like yo' iz a 
stan'in' an' we'll take care ob yo' brother an' de gen'l if we 
die fuss." 

Such expressions as these came from all sides. 

That night I made a discovery. Just outside the sleeping- 
room, on the porch, which was closed in on three sides and 
facing the only narrow stairway from the street to the porch, 
fully a dozen men, negroes, stood guard ail night. There 
were but two pistols among them — old ones at that. They 
were armed with stout hickory clubs. That night I made 
another discovery. It was after ten o'clock, and when the 
last of our brave friends had quietly gone away. A won- 
ierful solemnity rested over the stronghold, unbroken, save 
by an occasional " shuffling " of the men " on guard," and a 
noise which sounded like the low ebb and flow of a rather 
iinimated conversation going on beyond brick walls. I 
asked Charles what that muffled sound was. 

" Shall we uncover our secret to the radical delegate to 
the black-and-tan convention from the 'Azoo ?" was his re- 
sponse, directed to the General. 

" Certainly. Why not ? I guess we can trust him with 
our lives, our fortune, and our sacred honahs, by G — d, sir," 
was that outcast's reply, delivered with great mock solemnity 
of manner. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 169 

B J this time my curiosity was up. 

" Shan't we administer the iron-clad oath first ?" said my 
brother, in great seriousness. 

Then the General — 

" Well, you know him better than I." 

" Yes, he's my brother, that's a fact ; but this is a solemn 
and weighty proceeding, and, you know, the only ' Ameri- 
cans on guard to-night ' are negroes, and I am not brother to 
the negro — though if this siege continues much longer I shall 
wish I were. Throughout the civilized world espionage of 
the enemy is considered proper, nay, the right of either party 
upon the other. In a case like this, where the disparity in 
numbers is so great as exists between this little garrison and 
the besieging party, the General and myself have thought we 
might be justified in obtaining information of the enemy by 
any means in our power — even to peeping through a key- 
hole, when by so doing we could overlook a council of grand, 
Cyclops, and, by placing our ears near enough, overhear their 
discussions." 

At this moment certain proceedings instituted by Charles 
took place near the centre of the room, enabling us to hear 

from below, such words as " Morgan" " Stanton," 

" d — n fool," " d — n coward," and similar expressions, but 
we could not connect them, and I was wrought up to a 
high pitch of excitement by this surprise, and my curiosity to 
know the end of it. It was plain, too, that both Charles and 
the General were expecting to obtain '' valuable information 
to-night," and Charles I'emarked on the change in the tones 
that came from the office below : 

" Something has happened to throw a damper over their 
prospects," he said; ^' their speech is not so boisterous as 
heretofore, and lacks confidence." 

" Well, Mr. Master of-Ceremonies, ' lets at 'em,' as Sheri- 
dan said at Five Forks, the moment all was ready." This 
from me to Charles; for I was getting out of patience. 

But my brother was a natural-born tease, and seemed bent 



170 YAZOO ; OR, 

on illustrating the fact then and there, for he continued: 
" Be aisy, me b'y, an' wa-it 'til I finish. Di ye moin thim 
lethers I'v been a wroitin' 'til the pilot; av coorse yi duz, an* 
the spalpanes a callin' uf me a loier, an' a demandin' av the 
noimes of me infoirmint ur me infoirmints, an' a thirtnin 
moi with a lahyer if I refoost." 

But by this time, certain other mysterious proceedings, insti- 
tuted by him as this bit of play was going on, culminated, 
and lifting quite out of its place one of the planks in the floor 
of the room, exposing a bunch of cotton, Charles whispered — 

" Well, feth, an' I'll shoah 'im 'til ye in a minit jus'. Be 
aisy now. Di ye say 'im ? — the spalpanes ! " 

And suiting the action to the word he raised the cotton 
from its place lo?ig enough to enable me to see into the room 
below. 

At the moment the cotton was withdrawn there had been 
a lull in the conversation of the "gentlemen" in that room^ one 
of whom I now saw eat in a plain chair, tipped against the 
wall, in such a manner as to bring us face to face, and I in- 
voluntarily sprang back, fearing he might see me. 

" 0, he's too drunk to see anybody now," whispered the 
General, and on looking again I concluded he might be, for 
both arms hung loosely at his side, and his pipe was ready to 
drop from his mouth. 

" That's his position every night," said Charles. 

It was the lawyer with '•'■ an ancestry." 

On looking from the other side the aperture, I saw four 
men seated round a plain board table. One of them was Judge 
Isam, another Captain Telsub, another Aurelius Bings, Esq., 
and the other was Major Sweet. An empty black bottle 
lay on one end of the table, while another nearly empty, 
stood upon the other end, and several half-smoked cigars and 
pipes were strewn upon its surface, and on the floor near by. 
They were all so near drunk that their speech was maudlin 
and aimless. 

One, while I was looking, raised his head from the table 



ON THE PICKET LINE. OF FREEDOM. 171 

where it had rested a moment, and faintly gave utterance to 
the following: " D — n — hie — Stanton." 

One younger and less drunken, replied: "D — n Andy 
Johnson, by G — d ! If he wan't such a coward he'd 'rested 
the d — n tyrant and put 'im in irons. Then all hell couldn't 
a' stopped him !" 

" Well," piped the third, " how'd yo' go about — hie — a 
restin' a scalawag — hie — with that G — d d — n rump a Con- 
gress — a-hic-a-hic — a hind 'im, and the d — n — hic-hic — d — n 
bull — hie — bull-bull-dog — hic-hic-hic — Grant — the s — of a 
b — on top of him — hie. Lets-take-a-drink. By G — d — hie. 
Here's ter Grant ! May the — hie — coons — ^hic-hic — eat 'im. 
The s— of a b— ! Hurrah for— hic-hic— hell ! By G— d !" 

This speech closed in so loud a tone that it roused him of 
the ancestry, and he eased his chair to the floor, got up, started 
toward the table — I presume to take a drink — and fell sprawl- 
ing upon the floor. This created quite a rumpus, and the 
scene, as a whole, became so ridiculous that it was with diffi- 
culty I could restrain myself from laughing. 

There they were, Yazoo's best citizens, the leaders of the 
ku-klnx-klan of that county, the night after receiving the 
news of Stanton's victory over Johnson, all upon the floor 
drunk; stumbling, pulling and hauling one another in their 
efforts to help their fallen comrade to regain his feet, while 
their cursing and hurrahing added bedlam to this scene of 
" hell upon earth." 

The lights had been turned low in our room by General 
Greenleaf before he came and joined us at the "key-hole," 
which fact had reduced to minimum the risks of our being 
seen had they been sober. Now that they were so drunken, 
we felt perfect safety from detection, and so watched their 
performance until we were tired of it. 

There was no use to go to bed, for court the god of sleep 
with whatever charm we might, he could not have been won 
against such odds, and so we were forced to pass the greater 
part of the night in the presence of this " torment/' without 
any means of redress -whatever. 



172 YAZOO ; OR, 

Shortly after midnight a light-complexioned freed-woman 
entered without knocking, and, gathering up one of these 
" chivalrous Southern gentlemen, by G — d, sir," led him off 
home.* A half hour or so later a freedman came and led 
away another. Still later, two others go off, " arm in arm." 
and in each instance they had departed cursing Stanton, 
the "scalawag;" or Johnson, the '^ coward;" or Grant, the 
^' butcher." 

When all had gone, a slender, fair colored girl entered, put 
the room to rights, spread the bed, pulled off the boots of 
her '' lord and master " — him of " an ancestry" — helped that 
"gentleman" to bed, and — then made herself perfectly at home. 
But at this point, Charles quietly replaced the cotton, read- 
justed the floor planks, the General turned up the lampwick, 
and we all looked each other in the face. 

Observing my astonishment, the General remarked : 
'" Why, young man, that's nothing when you get used to it. 
Just you wait until two or three of them happen to arrive at 
the same time, or when instead of sending a 'trusty old 
family servant,' the ' missus ' happens to come herself." 

''Den yo'l see de fur fly," exclaimed Charles! It was he who 
had discovered this means of " espionage upon the enemy," 
and he seemed to fairly gloat over the fact. 

"And you have had no scruples ?" Eut the General, di- 
vining my thought, interrupted me. 

" Scruples be" he was about to say d — d, but caught 

himself and proceeded : " We made that discovery while in 
pursuit of the highest aspiration of the human soul, to wit: 
a desire to save life." 

''How's that ?" I asked. " I prefer Charles should have the 
honor of the discovery. It belongs to him, and he can tell 
you all about it better than I," 

" It was the night following the day that Captain Telsub 
struck the General," began Charles, now in real seriousness, 
"and we both barely escaped with our lives, as I wrote The Pilot. 
Hearing groans and cries, and a hoarse voice as of some 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 173 

one pleading for dear life in the room below, and believing 
that the savages had captured one of our crew, and were 
about to offer him in sacrifice to appease the wrath of their 
gods, we, the General and I, decided on making a hole through 
the floor here," — and he indicated a point near the corner of 
the room — " but Uncle Peter, who was present at the time, was- 
opposed to that place, and insisted upon this one for the open- 
ing. You doubtless observed that by putting the face close 
down between the joist quite over the opening in the under 
ceiling, you had a perfect view of the entire room, and that 
as the table about which they sat was in the centre of the 
room, you were immediately over the heads of those sur- 
rounding it. Furthermore, that as Peter put it, ' Marsa ku- 
klux nebber 'low ter look fur coon y'here.'" 

"But after you had made your port-hole, how about the 
prisoner ? '' I said, when Charles stopped, as though he had 
finished his story. 

"0, certainly; I forgot him. It was only the Captain — 
him of 'an ancestry' — the 'snakes' had him." 

But now I was in a deeper mystery than ever. The Gen- 
eral cleared it all away, however, as he added, after leaving 
Charles to enjoy the pleasure of my anxiety and suspense a 
brief moment : 

" Snakes in his boots. Colonel! Don't you see? " 

Then Charles — 

" And that poor girl, Rarety, * was doing her level best to 
comfort him. Finally, she went for a doctor, and, after he 
came, Judge Isam dropped in, and together they succeeded,, 
about one o'clock in the morning, in getting opium enough , 
or whatever it was, down him to induce sleep." 

" 'Twan't opium, Captain," interrupted the General, " it 
was whisky. You see the poor fellow was anxious to keep 
sober long enouo:h to have a hand in the hanging of them, 
d — n Yankees, and that brought on the attack. He wan't 
used to it." 

•This was tlie name of the one I had seen enter last. 



174 YAZOO ] OR, 

'^Then you didn't have to shoot?" 

"No; oh, no. You ought to have seen Peter, though ! He 
knew from the first, but didu't want to give ' de white gen- 
'Imens away dat er way.' So he had helped us to see for 
oursalves." 

" Do you really believe they would have hung you ? " I 
asked. 

" Yes, sir, I do." 

"How could they dare to do such a thing? " 

" "Well, we wouldn't believe them at first," said Charles, 
breaking in upon the General. *' But for several days before 
we had been receiving warnings through our colored friends 
that the enemy were getting ready to do so. One of these 
warnings came from this very girl, Rarety ; another 
came from a waiter in Dave Woolridge's saloon; another 
from Barkadale's residence, through one of the maids. 
All these informants agreed that we would not be harmed 
in our bodies unless we drew our weapons. But, if we 
drew our weapons, we were to be arrested, locked up in jail, 
and then taken out at night and hung by the K. K. K.'s. 
Well, these warnings became so frequent and repeated, 
from the same sources, juat before the day on which the 
event was to occur, that we agreed to take whatever might 
come, and make no resistance, unless it should be at the last 
moment. Accordingly on that day, after a gang of them had 
pursued us all the way from our stronghold to the post-office, 
and from the post-office back again, insulting us every step 
of the way, and forcing us to walk in the middle of the street, 
where we belonged they said. Captain Telsub struck the 
General square in the face. For a moment I thought he 
would forget; but he did not, and we got iuside our refuge in 
safety. Then they followed up our steps, banged against the 
door, threw stones at our windows, and raised the devil 
generally. Their leader warned them that they must 
break no doors or windows, however, and they shortly with- 
drew." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 175 

*^ No wonder the Captain had snakes in his boots," I said, 
when Charles ceased. " I should think they might nestle and 
grow in the boots of all of them." 

" That's half what's the matter with them all now," said 
the General. *' Ifs so long since they've been allowed to 
whip a darkey here in town, in the good, old-fashioned way, 
that they have all gone stark mad," 



176 YAZOO ; OR, 



CHAPTER XXII. 

WHEAT AMONG TARES — A HUMAN HORNET — A " NEW-COMER " 
OF THE RIGHT SORT FOR YAZOO — HOW " OUR FRIENDS UP 
NORTH " FURNISHED POWDER FOR " WE ALL " DOWN SOUTH 

TO BURN UNDER THE NOSES OF BRAVE EX-UNION SOLDIERS 

A " NEST OF VIPERS." 

THE following daj was Sunday. There was still another 
surprise in store for me. 

Charles had written to me about his Sabbath-school, but I 
was wholly unprepared for what I was to witness. 

About the hour for the school to assemble full a dozen stal- 
wart freedmen, all armed with stout hickory, or other hard- 
wood sticks, appeared upon the sidewalk, in front of the 
"Yankee stronghold," This was the signal of departure for 
the church, the little church which we had helped to build, 
and Charles and General Greenleaf * buckled their weapons 
about them and joined the group. 

Being the most " distinguished " and important personage, 
on account of my official station, I was assigned the " post 
of honor," which was none other than, the centre of the 
group — for better protection, they said — and, flanked by two 
freedmen, who went on ahead as advance guard, Charles 
and the General, side by side, led the procession, which fol- 
lowed in military order. Thus escorted, we reached the 
church in safety and walked upon the sidewalk, too. 

» I had not yet been able to get my own consent to carry such a weapon. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 177 

Inside the church was a motley gathering indeed. There 
must have been fully two hundred children who were under 
sixteen years of age ; from pure white, with blue eyes and 
flaxen hair, to coal-black boys and girls. There they were, 
poorly clad, but with clean bodies — Charles taught that clean- 
liness was next to godliness, and they had taken the lesson 
from his lips as coming directly from their Father in heaven. 
There were not teachers enough. One a " Southern Union- 
ist," Charles, the General, and the wife of the Freedman's 
Bureau agent, were the only " white teachers." There were 
but few of the colored adults at that time with sufficient 
learning to act as teachers even in such a school. But such 
as there were, were utilized to the best advantage. 

One feature of this school attracted my attention. The 
pastor, a very light colored man, who had been a slave until 
freedom came for all, and all the ofhcers of the church, were 
present either as scholars or teachers. The exercises were 
simple. A song was sung, followed with prayer by my brother. 
Then another song, followed by the lessons for the day, after 
which there was more singing, and then the General made 
a brief talk,* and when he closed he informed the school that 
I would talk to them if they would like to hear me. 

Then the pastor gravely rose, and, with tears filling his 
eyes, briefly informed the school of some things that he had 
heard of me during my absence at Jackson, and said he 
believed the Lord had raised up " Captain Morgan, Gen'ral 
Greenleaf, and de Kunnel like he raised up Moses 'mong de 
childun of Israel," though not of them, to lead them. Then, 
raising his eyes tovvards heaven, he uttered the most attecting 
prayer I ever listened to. There were few words, but they 
came straight from a good heart. 

From the moment we entered the church, the crowd of 
white boys that had followed us all the way from the strong- 
hold, hung about the building, some pushing against the 
doors, held fast by doorkeepers on the inside, some lifting 

•I was deeply grateful for the change that his experience had wrought in this former 
opponent of mine. He could now talk to the freed people without any halting in 
his speech or manner. 

12y 



178 YAZOO ; OR. 

themselves up bj the wiudow-sills until they could see in, 
when they wjuld utter "cat-calls" and make grimaces, 
while soma thre.v stones upon the roof. They had heard the 
announGem3nt that I was tj talk to the school, and at once 
began to fill the windows. When the pastor began his prayer 
they groaned. Tiaen this " nigro preacher " prayed for them, 
their parents; that Yazoo City might be made a God-fearing 
town; and he threw so much pathos and entreaty into his 
words, the boys themselves became silent. 

But the moment I began to talk they made such a din 
that I could not be heard. I ceased speaking, and, turning 
to Charles, suggested they be invited inside, and that enough 
of the school vacate their seats to make room. I thought I 
would like to talk to those boys too. 

But the pastor promptly replied that they had tried tha 
course at the start, and the only result was to increase the 
disturbanca. 
Then I suggested that the police be called. 
The General said he had tried several times to get police 
attendance, and failed. 
" What shall be done, then ? " I asked. 
'' It is simply a question of endura,cce,^'' said my brother. ^' Let 
us suspend a few moments, and they'll get tired and get down 
from the windows." 

Throughout the exercises the audience had kept perfectly 
juiet, an 1 there Was no excitement whatever. I remarked 
this to Charles. 

'' Oh, they're used to it," said he. " It's this way every 
Sabbath, only worse. One day they forced open the door and 
came in, and we had to adjourn for the day." 

" Whore do you suppose Dixon* and his gang are to-day?" 
inquired the General of Charles. 

" Thej^'ve doubtless heard of Stanton's victory, and are 
waiting for orders," replied this chief of the outcasts. 

" Guess that^s it,^' responded the other, with much feeUng. 

* He was a " ne\7-coiner," but from. Viiijiiiia, and had but just come into the county. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 179 

In a few moments the boys had all disappeared from the 
windows, and were howling and '^cat-calling " in the streets. 
Then I finished my talk, the school was dismissed, and we 
returned in the manner we came. 

As we neared the stronghold a young, girlish-faced man 
with thin lips, light hair, and no larger than most boys at 

fourteen — "a human horoet " was Charles' description 

^'bolted" straight from the opposite side of the street 
pu^;hed himself rapidly through the ranks of the '* guard " 
jostling me nearly to the gutter, and then walked away as 
rapidly as he had come. This was Henry Dixon, and this 
was a new feature of his policy ; for both the General and 
Charles declared to me that he usually had a ''gang" of youno- 
men with him, the young Stockdales, Blacks and Isams. 

The next day when I took stage for the raih'oad to return 
to Jackson, the white boys were out as usual. This time 
they had a new epithet for me. It was " carpet-bagger." * 
But the men failed to put in an appearance. Indeed my 
entire trip was quite free from serious annoyance from adults. f 
The only drummer on board was a representative of a 
Memphis house. It was not necessary that he should abuse 
me in order to show where his sympathies were. He was 
well known in Yazoo. 

The change in the conduct of the membership of the ku- 
klux-klan organization was so great that the Northerners who 
during the reign of terror had held themselves aloof from that 
'' Den of Yankee vipers," as the K. K K.'s termed the quai'- 
ters where ray brother and General Greenleaf had their 
" office," dining-room, and lodgings, once more returned to 
counsel and advise the gallant garrison. Even certain of the 
anti-reconstruclionists condescended to " speak " to the Gen- 
eral and to Charles when they happened to meet them on 
the street. 

* In Yazoo, the fact that the mint in which that epithet was coined was locatpd in 
the North, ay, in the heart of the North, or what was thought there' in Yazoo to ho 
the same thing, viz : the Tribune office or sanctunj in New York City justified thpso 
best boys of the best citizens of that town, in giving to that word a' pronuuciaHnn 
smacking of triumphant jollity, thus— key-ah pit-ba-ah-ger-r-r ! a"<ju 

tThe kuklux were awaiting orders. 



180 YAZOO ; OR, 

The " Unionist" over the way removed the lock from his 
cistern, and the stronghold by the exercise of proper discre- 
tion could be provisioned in the daytime. 

The main body of the whites, however, continued to frown 
fiercely upon the outcasts, and the female portion to lift 
their skirts and cross over to the other side of the street, 
whenever they saw Charles or. the General approaching. 
By way of emphasizing their contempt for these '^ carpet- 
baggers," they, the white females, made it a point to ex- 
hibit, on every such occasion, especial courtesy and polite- 
ness of demeanor toward all other Northerners. This was 
intended to sha^ne the garrison into a surrender. Indeed, 
this change was so great that since the night when the grand 
Cyclops celebrated in such a dolorous manner the triumph 
of Stanton over Johnson, it had not been necessary to main- 
tain a guard over the stronghold while the garrison slept. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 181 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CHARLES HAS A NEW EXPERIENCE — A SLIGHT INDISCRETION 
AND A TRIAL — COURAGEOUS GENERAL GREENLEAF, AND TRUE 
FRIENDS — MORE STRAW FOR BRICKS. 

AS the work of the convention at Jackson progressed, and 
the time approached when that body should adjourn and 
the result of its labors be submitted to the people* for their 
rejection or approval, Charles and General Greenleaf com- 
menced organizing Loyal League Clubs and also the Kepub- 
lican party throughout the county. 

The Loyal League Clubs established by them were organ- 
ized in conformity to the constitution and by-laws of the 
National League in every particular. Their meetings were 
secret, and the outcasts were surprised by the number of 
applicants for membership from the old Unionist element in 
the county. 

About this time The Clarion, a newspaper published at 
the State capital, and edited by Ethel Barksdale, who, with 
Hons. W. P. Harris, A. G. Brown and a majority of the 
leading minds of the anti-reconstruction element of the State, 
had banded together in what they themselves styled the Cen- 
tral " Democratic Association," of the State of Mississippi, 
published the following : 

* The convention which passed the ordinance of secession in Mississippi, refnsed to 
snbmit its woik to the jjeople for approval. The Johnson reconstruction conven- 
tion of 18G5, also refused to submit its work to the people. Had the convention which 
framed the first Free State Constitution for the State, followed the examples thus set 
them, there would have been no necessity for tliis work. But thus lias it ever been. 
The nien who frame //'ce constitutions have nothing to conceal, and have never yet 
been afraid to allow the people to know what they have done, how they have done it, 
and why, 



182 YAZOO; OR;. 

" THE LOYAL LEAGUE CONSPIRACY * 

"The following resolutions speak for themselves. They were offered 
by Hon. W. P. Harris in the Democratic Association in this city on 
Saturday evening last, and unanimously adopted. We advise similar 
action by the Conservatives throughout the State : 

"RESOLUTIONS. 

" Whereas a secret, oath-bound organization, in violation of the laws 
of the State,t exists in this city, known as the Loyal League, which 
we believe to be not only mischievous, but well calculated to disturb 
the peace and good order of society; now, therefore, be it— 

^'■Resolved, Without intending in any manner to interfere with the 
political rights of citizens of any class or parties in the exercise of the 
elective franchise, that we will not hereafter employ, countenance, or 
support in any manner any man, white or black, who is known to 
belong to the Loyal League, and who determines to continue a mem- 
ber thereof. 

'■'■Besolved, That we, the Southern people, do hereby pledge ourselves 
to protect those freedmen who have the boldness and good sense to 
avow themselves the friends of law a id order, and that we will, by 
all means, peaceably if we may, forcibly if we must, protect, defend, 
and support them in preference to those who have arrayed themselves 
against the laws of the State and their true friends. 

^'Resolved, That our respect for a colored man is far above that which 
we entertain for any JSTorthern man or renegade Southern man, who 
avows doctrines favorable to, or in encouragement of , the Loyal League, 
which society we know to be in direct violation of the laws of the 
State, and that we will not countenance any white man, from what- 
ever latitude he may come, or dignifly him with our recognition who 
affiliates with this organization. 

" Besolved, That we are a law-abiding people, and that we will do 
nothing in violation of law or good morals, and wll use our utmost 
endeavors to protect and defend the same, and earnestly appeal to the 
whole community to join us in the maintenance of the rights we avow. 

" Besolved, That all towns, villages, or communities in the State of 
Mississippi, where Loyal Leagues exist, are earnestly requested to 
adopt similar resolutions." 

* The reader should remember that many of the best men of the nation were mem- 
bers of this league. 

t The only " law of the State " which the League violated was that one defining and 
punishing unlawf il a-semblies of negroes. See Revised Code, Mississippi Slave Code, 
of 1857, page 247, which reads as follows : 

" AirniiJC 51. All meetings or assemblies of slaves, or free negroes or mulattoes mix- 
ing and associating with such slaves, above the number of live, including such free 
negroes and mulattoes, at any plice of public resort, or at any meeting-house or houses, 
in the night, or at any school for teaching them reading or writing, either in the day 
time or night, under whatsoever pretext, shall be deemed au unlawful assembly." 
* * ♦ 

The punishment for the violation of this law, by this same article, was " not more 
than thirty-nine lashes on the bare back." 

But us to these laws see hereinafter. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 183 

The revival of the reign of terror in Yazoo \va8 one of the 
first fruits of those resolutions. The change was so sudden 
that the garrison was surprised.* The first sign of the ap- 
proaching storm was observed by Charles one morning when 
he entered the post-oflice for his mail. It came from a group 
of well-known boys and young men lounging about that cor- 
ner, who revived their old cries of" O'oophie !" *' polecat !" 
"old Morgan!" etc., etc., and as he came out and passed 
down the street they followed him. 

Some of them had pistols, and one, just as they passed bj 
some "■ ladies " standing in the front of a door on Main street 
tried to trip my brother and throw him down, to the great 
delight of these fair ones. He must cross the bayou just above 
" Mr. Goosie's ferry," and, this crowd of howling, teasing, 
cursing, "cat-calling" white youth pursued him into the 
ferry-boat, a long flat boat. Up to this time Charles had con- 
trolled himself perfectly. He had his revolver buckled to 
his person outside, and not concealed. They had several 
times called out to him, ^' Why don't you stan' yo' groun' 
an' fight like a gentleman ?" and had repeatedly called upon 
him to defend himself. Merchants standing in their store- 
fronts, and their clerks had hallooed this cry after him; but 
he had kept cool, and gone quietly on his course. 

As the ferryman was shoving the flut from the bank one of 
these white boys — son of one of the " leading citizens " — 
seized the ferryman's pole, and, raising it, made a "rush" 
for Charles, followed by the whole crowd, as though they 
meant to drive him from the further end of the flat into the 
rapidly running stream, where, without help, he would have 
been in great danger of drowning. Divining their purpose, 
Charles drew his weapon, and ordered them to "halt! come 
nearer and I'll fire!" He had not even then lost any part 
of perfect self-control, and stood as calm and self-possessed 
as if talking to the Sabbath-school. But alas! he had drawn 
a "deadly weapon "—had "exhibited it in a threatening 

*During the brief era of good feeling Yazoo had become so quiet that the outcasts 
abandoned their habit of going together whenever they went out. 



184 YAZOO ; OR, 

manner." The " boys " at once ceased their pursuit, retired 
to their end of the flat, and Charles went on his way. 

Whenever in this country that time shall come that the 
declarations of one or more of those who fought to destroy 
the Union, or for slavery, or who sat in the council chamber 
of treason, or of rebellion even, against our flag, shall be 
taken by the people of the whole country, or of one-half of 
it, as worthy of credit above the statements on honor of 
one who served in the army of the Union from the begin- 
ning until the close of the late glorious war, receiving hon- 
orable wounds and merited promotion, and against whose 
fame no stain has rested, then the people of this country will 
deserve to have a king set over them, and God in wrath shall 
give them one. 

The following is from the Yazoo Banner of May, 1868. 
I beg my readers to remember that I do not bring it forward 
here to corroborate my account of this event in my brother's 
life, nor shall I employ any similar papers for such a purpose 
nor in proof of any statement I may make. I use this one 
because in itself it presents pictures of life in Yazoo that I 
can neither hope to excel nor imitate : 

SONG. 

Air— 7jf you belong to Gideon'' s Band. 

Old Morgan came to the Southern land, 
Old Morgan came to the Southern land, 
Old Morgan came to the Southern land, 
With a little carpet-bag in his hand. 
Chorus. 

If you belong to the Ku Klux Klan, 

Here's my heart and here's my hand, 

If you belong to the Ku Klux Klan, 

We are marching for a home. 

Old Morgan thought he would get bigger, 
Old Morgan thouglit he would get bigger, 
Old Morgan thought he would get bigger, 
By running a saw-mill with a nigger. 

If you belong to the Ku Klux Klan, &c. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 185 

The crop it failed and the saw-mill busted, 
The crop it failed and the saw-mill busted, 
The crop it failed and the saw-mill busted, 
And the nigger got very badly wusted. 

If you belong to the Ku Klux Klan, &c. 

And Morgan is a gay old rat, 
And Morgan is a gay old rat. 
And Morgan is a gay old rat, 
And the boys they called him a " polecat." 

If you belong to the Ku Klux Klan, &c. 

But some close at his heels would tag. 
But some close at his heels would tag. 
But some close at his heels would tag. 
And call this hero " scalawag." 

If you belong to the Ku Klux Klan, &c. 

Old Morgan went to the bayou bridge. 
Old Morgan went to the bayou bridge. 
Old Morgan went to the bayou bridge, 
And with some little Ku Kluxes had a scrimmidge. 
If you belong to the Ku Klux Klan, &c. 

Old Morgan stepped into the flat. 

Old Morgan stepped into the flat. 

Old Morgan stepped into the flat. 

And knocked a little Ku Klux into a cocked-hat, and the 
little Ku Klux didn't like that so very well, and another 
little Ku Klux picked up a spike pole to hit old Morgan zip, 
and Old Morgan drew a horse pistol out of his pantaloons, 
and cocked it on the little coons, and the little Ku Klux that 
had picked up the spike pole dropped it very soon, and old 
Morgan turned and run out of the flat, and the little Ku 
Kluxes hollered "run, polecat." 

If you belong to the Ku Klux Klan, &c. 

Returning the next day to town, my brother was met by 
an officer who had a writ of some sort for his " apprehension." 
Charles asked to be informed of the nature of the charge 
upon which he was to be arrested. This the officer at first 
decHned to grant. But he shortly yielded, and announced 
that the order for his arrest was based upon the affidavit of 

, a son of one of the most prominent physicians of the 

county, which affidavit charged my brother with " carrying 
a concealed deadly weapon," " exhibiting a deadly weapon," 



186 



YAZOO: OR, 



"violating citj ordinance," "disturbing the peace, and 
assault." 

Charles recognized the man as "a proper officer to make an 
arrest," and while denying the charges, he declared himself 
a law-abiding citizen, submitted to tlie demand of this officer 
without a murmur, was taken before the mayor, tried, and 
on the testimony of the " prosecuting witness," together with 
several of the youths who were engaged with him, Mr. 
Goosie and his ferryman (the only persons who were pres- 
ent), was found guilty, fined on each count, and charged 
'^ with all costs," the whole amounting to more than sixty 
dollars.* 

Pending that trvd, General Greenleaf, the postmaster, and 
the freed people, together with some Northerners, who 
contributed secretly, " took up a collection," and thus raised 
the whole amount of the fiue and costs, and p.iid the same 
promptly. They supposed that would be the end of that 
proceeding. To assist in raising the m^ney a few of the 
principal ones had held a consultation, which was attended 
by some Northerners, whose blood had been roused by 
the outrages upon the chief of the outcasts, and by some few 
Unionists, as well as negroes. General Greenleaf had the 
hardihood to remind those present that the practice of car- 
rying weapons was universal among the whites, as all could 
see, and he also declared that the aggressors, as every one 
in the town well knew, were the prosecutors themselves. 

*From the Yazoo banner of May, 1868:—" The trial consumed two days, and was jjro- 
tracted late into Saturday night." The examination took great latitude, Morgan being 
allowed to show the state of public feeling against Iiim, that he was a persecuted man ; 
that his life was threatened, and that he was justified in carrying concealed weaponsin 
self-defense. The Very Rev. Tolbert (jibbs was a prominent witness for the defense, 
and revealed many very strange and wonderful things he had heard about plots that 
were laid, " inductions dangerous," to kill him and his friend Morgan, of which 
scarcely a word was believed by any one who heard him. 

"The prosecution, represented by Judge Hudson, pressed him at every point with 
efficient ability and vigor, and although for two days he bore the ordeal with consum- 
mate coolness and audacity, towards the close of the trial he seemed to have berome 
cowed, and cringed like a poor cur. It was difficult to repress a feeling of sympathy for 
the depraved creature, as he realized that all his arts and devices had failed, and felt 
the iron grasp of justice tightening upon him. 

"He was found guilty of every charge, and fined as follows : For the assault and bat- 
tery, SIO ; for carrying concealed weapons, )f-0 ; for unlawful exhibition of a deadly 
weapon, S5, with costs, amounting to |26. We submit, with all due respect, that the 
punishment in our opinion is by no means conuncnsuratc witli the olTense, and besides, 
the mayor bad no riglit to punish for the unlawful exhibition of a deadly weapon, 
which is an indictaljle offense, of which the circuit court has jurisdiction. When the 
grand jury meets Morgan will learn that there is some little law yet left in Mississippi." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 187 

The only conclusion to be reached from the proceeding, there, 
fore, was, that the prosecution, as well as the persecution 
which preceded it, had been designed by the enemies of 
reconstruction, and of the United States, to injure the leader 
of the Republicans, and, if possible, to destroy him. 

In this the General but expressed the sentiments and opin- 
ions of the meeting, as was clearly shown from the speeches 
of others who took part. But all carefully avoided any re- 
flection upon the court. In fact, ail agreed that the mayor 
had but performed his duty under the laws. Nevertheless, 
they also agreed that those same laws, in justice, should be 
enforced upon all alike. Otherwise, there could possibly be 
no protection for the loyalists. Efforts had been frequently 
made to obtain protection from the police against such mobs 
as had pursued my brother that morning, without avail, and 
the General declared that my brother and himself had adopted 
the practice of carrying weapons as a last resort, and only 
in self-defence. The demonstrations about the building in 
which the meeting was being held became so violent during 
these proceedings, that when at last the sum required had been 
raised, and the meeting adjourned, nearly all present gathered 
in a body around the General, against whom the wnith of 
the enemy, nearly all of whom were armed with pistols or 
knives, and some with both, was now chiefly directed. 

The sequel showed that they meant to " get him too," by 
the same means as had been employed to entrap my brother. 
Only, those who now pursued the General were the kuklux 
fathers of the young kukluxes who had pursued Charles. 

So determined were they to aggravate him to make some 
sort of defence that they actually spat upon him, threw stones 
at him, and, finally, getting close enough for the purpose, 
they struck him several times, and once squarely in the face.* 

* From the Yazoo Banner of May, 1S6S :— " The words were scarcely cold when, as he 
was escorted down the street by some dozen of his admiring audience, a gentleman 
insulted him once and again, and the hound dared nut resent it. lie sneaked along 
to another part of tlie town where another gentleman insulted hiiu, and he dared not 
resent it. Perhaps he has learned from this, that if Southern gentlemen do not usually 
treat such incendiaries with all the contempt and insult which their baseness so well 
merits, it is because tliey are restrained by self respect. And perhaps the colored audi- 
ence, who heard the foul and false aspersions cast on our people, and then saw their 
calumniator twice display liis own pitiful cowardice, will learn from this how much 
reliance is to be placed on these apostles of incendiarism." 



188 YAZOO ; OR, 



CHAPTER XXIY, 

AT LAST ! — A murderer's CELL ! — THAT YAZOO JAIL IN 1868 — 
WHAT MR. BARKSDALE DID — THE GOOD SAMARITAN — UNCLE 
JONATHAN SEKS THE KUKLUX — THE WICKED FLEE WHEN NONE 
PURSUE. 

THE threat of the Binner proved but the expression of 
the will of the kuklux. For not long after that trial 
of my brother, another writ was issued, and he was taken 
again into custody on the very same charge upon which he 
had been tried by the mayor and fined, as I have shown. 
Bail was ofiered, but at that moment the same counsel who 
had prosecuted in the former case came forward and de- 
manded that no person should be received as surety except 
such as could swear that they were worth the " amount of 
the bond inrm^ estate, over and above their just debts and all 
liabilities whatsoever. ^^ 

When G-eneral Greenleaf came into the county, in 1865, 
it was said he paid twenty thousand dollars in gold for his 
interest in the plantation he then purchased in company with 
another Yankee. 

There were at the moment three other Yankees in the 
town who had invested similar amounts, yet, altogether, they 
could not now make that bond : only three hundred dollars. 
They volunteered to make up the amount in money, and 
deposit it for security for my brother's appearance at court, 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 189 

but this was refused. Then the officer took Charles to jail. 
It had become the " common jail " now, and stress was placed 
upon the word common by the enemy, who shook hands with 
each other, and fairly gloated over their " victory." It was 
afternoon, and the march to the jail was amid the jeers, 
curses, and hurrahs of the anti-reconstructionists. Everybody 
said that although a little pale, he showed no signs of fear, 
and walked by the side of the officer through the mob of 
howling " best citizens " and " poor white trash " as calmly 
as if he were going on some ordinary business-errand, in 
ordinary times. Some freedmen afterward told me they saw 
a smile on his face as he passed through the gate into the jail- 
building, and that he spoke in a cheerful tone. 

But his friends were not idle. The freedmen, under the 
leadership of the pastor of the little church we helped to 
build, with several of its officers and others, caused word to 
be sent to their friends in the country round to come to town 
forthwith, and in a short while the guard of the stronghold, 
with augmented numbers, was on duty within easy reach of 
the jail, armed with their hard-wood sticks. 

The General and the other Northerners were no less active, 
for they had information direct from Dave Woolridge's saloon 
and from other sources, that the Captain would be taken out 
and hanged during that night ; and, from some words they 
had heard, and certain actions of Captain Telsub, Judge 
Isam and Colonel Black, they were satisfied it was not to be 
done by the ku-klux-klan of Yazoo. 

From the moment this information reached the General, 
he began to work on the agent of the Freedman's Bureau — 
one had recently been sent there — a very worthy officer but 
an extremely timid man, to convince him that it was his duty 
to interfere to save Charles. He protested he would gladly 
do so, but there was no law for it under the instructions of 
the new commanding-general of the department, and he 
would be recalled and perhaps dismissed if he exceeded his 
instructions even in this emergency. Besides he did not 



l-gO YAZOO ; OR, 

believe the rebels intended to do more than frighten Charles 
and compel him to forego his efforts to organize the party. 
That much had indeed been hinted to him — the agent. For 
his part he saw no use in it, anyway. 

" It is perfect folly for you gentlemen to continue your 
struggle here, with the President and the commanding-general 
against you. I'd abandon it altogether if I were in your 
places, and then we'll have peace here at all events," said he. 
But the General was not dismayed. He got other Northern- 
ers to go and see the agent, and, learning of the General's 
efforts in that direction, the freedmen began to go to him. 

"While the town-officer was taking my brother to jail, it was 
discovered that neither the sheriff, Colonel Finley, nor any 
of his deputies were in town, and some said they had not 
been at their office since the evening before. 

During the afternoon the General learned that certain '• old, 
and trusty faithful family servants " had seen certain signs, 
and heard certain words, that prepared them for the news of 
Charles' second arrest. Also, that they had "done sont" 
word to certain of their friends, who had been out" warning." 
This fact put a still more serious aspect upon the situation ; 
for if what he had heard as coming from certain " family 
servants " was true, the sheriff and his deputies had pur- 
posely absented themselves. But there was a surprise in 
store for them all. The General bad not thought of sending to 
the country for the freed people to come to town, and to me, 
and to all others ever afterward protested that he had no 
more knowledge of their coming than " the man in the 
moon," nor had he done anything to prompt such a step. But 
shortly after the discovery of the sheriff's absence, the num- 
ber of anxious freedmen in town suddenly increased, and 
before dark had become a crowd. They were very orderly; 
no great excitement was apparent, but they were very deter- 
mined, and " Stan' yo' groun' General, stan' yo' groun,' we'll 
die by ye," was heard by the General from all sides whenever 
he appeared upon the streets. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 191 

At last it was said the '' niggers " were moving on the jail 
with the determination to take my brother out — rescue him 
— and soon a shout was heard '* Take 'im out !" " Take Cap- 
tain Morgan out that ar jail '" These shouts reached the ears 
of Mr. Fountain Barksdale, Now Mr. Barksdale was at the 
topmost round of the Yazoo business world. He knew all 
about the cause of these shouts. He knew that my brother 
was an honorable man, a law-abiding citizen, and innocent 
of any fault in this matter. So Mr. Barksdale began to think. 
He took off his spectacles and wiped them. At that moment 
one of his numerous clerks rushed in with the news that the 
^' niggers " were going to burn the town unless Captain Mogan 
should be at once released. Mr. Barksdale was a nervous 
man. He did not wait to hear more, nor for his hat, but 
rushed almost frantically out upon the street and in the 
direction of the jail, shouting in his well-known thin, tenor 
voice, "Turn him out ! Turn Captain Morgan out a there ! 
Where's the sheriff? Where's the sheriff? Where's the 
mayor? Turn him out! He's no business there! Turn 
him out, I say !" He had gone nearly the length of Main 
street in that manner, appealing to nearly every " leading 
citizen" whom he met on the way, and often to the negroes 
themselves, crying out all the timo : " Take him out ! He's 
no business there! Take him out!" He had forgotten his 
spectacles, and carried them in his hand. He was also bare- 
headed. He appeared to have forgotten everything but 
•" Captain Morgan," and " Take him out " and " fire the 
town." Fair women threw their arms about him ejaculat- 
ing : "^ Ob, Mr. Barksdale, save us ! Save us !" " Our 
nigrosi" "Our nigros!" "Burn the city." "Burn the 
city !" " Our nigros !'' 

With the appearance of such an ally as Mr, Barksdale, 
the freedmen became almost wild with joy, and fell in by 
his side or behind him, and joined in the shout, " Take 'im 
out a there ! " 

But there was no officer to be found. It was getting late. 



192 YAZOO; OR, 

and the General and other Northerners had gone to make a 
final appeal to the bureau agent. This time with effect; for 
that officer himself began to see that it was indeed a serious 
matter. He at once sought out Colonel Black and Judge 
Isam, and said to them : 

" I give you notice that if Captain Morgan is harmed to- 
night, in anyway, by anybody, I will make a written report 
to General Grant, through General Howard, and shall hold 
you two gentlemen responsible for whatever may happen." 

Then Colonel Black : 

" "What authority, by G — d, sir, have you for interfering 
in this matter? He is there by the decree of the courts of 
the land; by G — d, sir! He's a low-down, contemptible 
meddler, sir, consorting with our nigros, and inciting them 
to insurrection, by G — d, sir; and, by G — d sir, an outraged 
Southern community won't stand it any longer, sir, by G — d 
sir! He's no nigro." 

But the General and other friends were close by, and, for 
once, the agent stood up ''like a man." 

'* Well, put your order in writing," said the Judge. 

"I make no order in the premises; I merely inform you of 
what I will do in case Captain Morgan is harmed in any- 
way." 

"But your superior officer is General Gillem; by G — d, 
sir," shouted Colonel Black. 

"I know that, gentlemen; but Captain Morgan is an old 
Union soldier, a gentleman above reproach from you, or any 
like you, and is not a low-down fellow, nor an inciter of insur- 
rections, and I shall take good care that what I may have to 
say in this case shall not be pigeon-holed on the way to 
Washington." 

" By G — d, sir, d — n you." This was Colonel Black talk- 
ing now, and he had lost his head. " We'll have you dis- 
missed, by G— ^d, sir. We'll have you dismissed." 

" Dismiss and be d — d," replied the agent. " I now believe 
you do intend violence on Captain Morgan. Mark you, I'll 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 193 

be there, atid you'll have at least two to hang," and the agent 
returned to his office.* 

Within an half hour or so afterward Charles, accompanied 
bj the General and the " guard " of the "stronghold," walked 
into the agent's office to thank him for his services, 

" No officer with you ? " 

" No." 

"Have you made the bond ? " 

" No." 

" £Iow came you here, then ? " 

•' Walked." 

Charles was in one of his teaming moods now, and it was 
the agent's turn to feel surprised. 

" Well, how did you get out ? " 

" They opened the door, said they had no further use for 
me there, so I walked out," responde 1 the outcast. 

" Well, I declare ! " exclaimed the agent. " What d — n 
fools they arc, to be sure.'' 

When he had reached this point in his account of this event 
to me afterward Charles ceased for a moment. The General 
who was present, asked : 

" Why not finish the story, and tell the Colonel what 
Uncle Jonathan saw that night ? " 

" I'm going to. I think it may be well to caution him that 
Jonathan's story is discredited by Colonel Black and the 
sheriff, and, as they are high-toned, honorable gentlemen, by 
G — d, sir, it were better not to repeat it." 

" Well, what did Jonathan see ? " I asked. 

"The kuklux." 

" You'll recollect, Albert," he continued, " that when we 
all left Tokeba, Uncle Jonathan got a little patch over near 
the mouth of the bayou that comes down from the piny road. 
Well, the day after my confinement in the common jail, 

* At the time the agent had not been made aware of what Mr. Barksdale was doing , 
therefore, his conduct was rather heroic, for Colonel Black and his allies at Jackson, 
within that "Central Democratic Association," were more powerful with General 
Gillem in such matters than any one else outside of Washington. 

13y 



194 YAZOO ; OR, 

Uncle Jonathan came into our stronghold, looking as if half 
scared to death. He had seen the kuklux. He knew it 
must be them. There were many men, " a long string," on 
horseback. They had ridden far and rapidly, for their horses 
were foaming. Some carried guns. They came to the foot 
of the bluffs, where they met a man coming from town, with 
whom they conversed for some minutes, and then, with ranks 
somewhat demoralized, they turned about and rode away.* 
But I was no longer in the common jail of Yazoo, under 
a charge of assault with intent to kill ; therefore they could 
do nothing, that they could justify through the Associated 
Press dispatches, and the headquarters of the commandant 
of this district, and thus my life was spared." 

*That same day we heard similar accounts from two otlier sources. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 195 



CHAPTER XXV. 



BOYS, WHY don't YOU GET AWAY FROM THERE ? — LETTERS FROM 
THE OLD HOME — CHARLES' FEVER — NEVER SAY DIE! 



I DON'T think I ever before saw Charles in quite so savage 
a raood as he was at the close of his account of that 
" trial," and the subsequent proceedings. He paced up and 
down the floor of the stronghold for two mortal hours, during 
which he delivered himself of the most bitter invective 
against our Government that I ever listened to, or ever read; 
and what surprised me most was the perfect sympathy ex- 
isting between him and the General 

Yet nearly a week had passed since the occasion of it 
transpired. It seemed that the more we discussed it the more 
savage they became, and I feared they might never cool off'. 

During the so-called trial the General telegraphed the fact 
to me and asked for pecuniary aid; as much as $300. I at 
once wired our sister Helen and a brother the facts of the 
case and thus obtained the money.* But the mails brought 
her letter, one from another sister, a brother, and one from 
father and mother. " Why do you boys remain there ? "was 
the burden of each. " Our mother is nearly distracted," 
Helen wrote; and father reminded us of some wholesome 
advice he had volunteered at the outset of our journey 

* There being no money in the State treasurj' and the Governor having refused to rec- 
ognize the legality of the convention, no warrants were permitted to be drawn in favor 
of any member or officer of that body. The collection of a tax levied by the conven- 
tion had been enjoined by the Central Democratic Association, and, therefore, I had as 
yet drawn no money from the State for my services. 



196 YAZOO ; OR, 

Southward, and ventured to repeat a part of it. " Why 
don't you leave that God-forsaken country ! " 

There was one other. It's author couldn't " understand it 
at all," I had already told Charles of these letters, and he 
had received one from Helen — and a brave good woman she 
was — our "best sister." But she had written: "Charles, 
why don't you come home ? " 

So, now, when his fever of wrath was at its height, I 
again called his attention to these letters, and handed him 
mother's. 

The superscription was in the strong, ancient, well-known 
characters of our father, and the fact did not escape Charles' 
eye. His hand trembled for a moment as he crumpled the 
envelope, and then, quite petulantly, opened and began to 
read. 

The first part was mother's. She began, almost at the 
beginning, to remind us how much she had suffered while 
her three ''soldier boys" were at the front, Charles, William ^ 
and myself; of our long service; of her joy at our return, 
scarred, but whole in Umb; how she had hoped to pass her 
last days in peace, with her children around her, and all that. 
But peace had not come to her, and she thought she had 
suffered enough and that we had done our share. She had 
not long to live, anyway. We could do no good for our- 
selves nor any one else where we were. Therefore, why not 
come home ? 

Then father. I believe he was one of the truest men that 
ever lived. His neighbors used to call him '^ honest George 
Morgan." His father and our mother's father fought in the 
Revolution. They had willingly given three of their sons to 
the war for the preservation of the liberties their fathers had 
won from the British. I had no recollection of having seen 
tears in Charles' eyes but twice before. This was the third 
time. As he proceeded with mother's letter, they stood tremb- 
ling upon his eye-iids, but only for a brief space; then they 
liowed like great drops of grateful rain, and thus his fever 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 197 

passed away. But, when he came to that " other " letter I 
thought I saw symptoms of its return; for he rose from the 
bed, upon which he had thrown himself — our only bed — and 
again paced the floor. 

" Don't understand it all! No; they don't any of them 
understand. They couldn't understand dear old ' Pap' 
Thomas, nor Grant, nor Sherman; they couldn't understand 
Stanton nor Lincoln; they can't understand us ! During the 
war they were so wrapped up in big prices for their wheat and 
in buying and selling, they couldn't find time to keep up with 
current history. Now they are so tamed by their fears that 
these poor, half-starved, half-naked, unarmed negroes may 
rise and slaughter their old masters and mistresses for what 
they have done to them in the past, and so full of tenderness 
and pity for whisky -guzzling, tobacco-smoking, swine-eating, 
scrofulous, lecherous, cowardly rebels, that they have for- 
gotten our wounds; forgotten our generosity to these same 
rebels when our bayonets were at their throats, and to-day, 
if one of us should be shot down like a dog, or hung to a 
lamp-post, so that it were done in the common jail, or while 
under some foul charge, these same kind people would never 
be able to understand it, and would go down to their graves 
feeling that, somehow, we were in the wrong. I tell you, 
Albert, we must fight this thing out, if it takes our lives. 
The country don't understand it at all, and they won't un- 
derstand it until we have furnished them proof upon proof, 
and they have come to see with their own eyes that the last 
state of the sick man of the South is worse than the first. 
Think of it ! the negroes' only refuge is the Bureau, and you 
know how feeble, uncertain and treacherous are the means of 
protection that affords them. But here we are, without even 
so much as that — unless by a subterfuge, when the agent 
happens to be a man with some little of the milk of human 
kindness in his breast, and enough sand in his gizzard to sup- 
port his backbone in a game of blulf. These same poor, 
despised negroes, after all, are our only protection, and they 



198 YAZOO; OR, 

have proved their courage and fidelity to my entire satisfac- 
tion. 

I thought this was a good place for me to put in a word? 
so I said : 

" Then you won't desert them and go home ? " 

" Desert them ? " cried he. *' From this time forth every 
black man in Yazoo is my brother, and every black woman, 
not excepting poor Rarety, is my sister. God bless them ! 
I would have as soon deserted Thomas at Nashville as desert 
them now." 

"And I Meade at Gettysburg ! " I involuntarily^ exclaimed. 

My brother's eloquence had made forget his " fever." 

" And I Grant on the Chickahominy, by G — d ! " shouted 
the General, whose oath came out so round and full that it 
seemed to fit the place.* 

Then we sang the "Star Spangled Banner/' "John Brown'^s 
Body," and other patriotic airs, until Charles' " fever " had 
passed quite off again, and the shoemaker's wife came up tO' 
warn us that we were disturbing the man with " an ancestry " 
in the office below. He was recovering from a fresh attack 
of mania-a-portu, and our songs had very much the same 
effect on him that water has on a mad dog. So the council 
" broke up " of its own accord. 

Pending the canvass of that year, the following from the 
Yicksburg Times, of June, 1868, is a specimen of the spirit 
which was commonly manifested by the whole Democratic 
press and leaders throughout the State. This spirit, very often 
accompanied by violence, was everywhere present : 

" Others may do as they please, but if men will protect and shelter 
vipers, they must take the consequences. We shall prepare and pub- 
lish a list of merchants who keep negro radicals as porters and 
laborers, and advise our people to avoid all such shops. Hotels who 
employ negro waiters and porters who belong to Loyal Leagues, will 
also be published, and the public warned against them. Draymen, 
hackmen, barbers, and all other negro laborers who belong to the Loyal 
League, shall in like manner be published. * * * The Southern 
Democrat who feeds a radical, white or black, is false to his race, 
* The General's spiritual as well as his mental vision had been sharpened. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 199 

false to his country, false to God and false to himself. He who sup- 
ports them in any shape is a coward who disgraces the name of man. " 

Also the following, which was only a specimen instance of 
the intolerance and proscription of many of our leading bus- 
iness men. It is from the New Orleans Times, a paper which 
applauded the stand taken by Captain Leathers, at that time 
of the steamboat Quitman, and backs him up by the fol- 
lowing resolve of a Democratic club at Pointe Coupee: 

" Points CoTJPEE, August 22, 1868. 
" To Capt. T. P. Leathers, of t'le Steamer General Quitmtn : 

"Sir: At a meeting of the Seymour and Blair Democratic Club of 
the Sixth Ward of the Parish of Pointe Coupee, held last evening, at 
the club rooms, at Ked Store Landing, on motion of Mr. J. J. Plantiv- 
ignes, and seconded by A. Provesty, Esq., the following resolution 
was unanimously adopted, viz: 

"Whereas, it has become the settled policy of the Democracy of this 
State not to give employment or support of any kind to members of 
the radical party, and whereas, it is announced by the New Orleans 
press that Capt. T. P. Leathers, of the Vicksburg packet General 
Quitman, has discharged from employment on his steamer all per- 
sons not members of the Democratic party; therefore, be it 

" Resolved, That the thanks of this club are due and are hereby re- 
turned to Captain T. P. Leathers, of the steamer General Quitman, 
for being the first among steamboatmen to take this important step, 
which is calculated to contribute largely to the success of the Demo- 
cratic party in this State." 

"And by virtue of a resolution to that effect, we are instructed to 
send you this copy of said resolution of thanks. 
" By order of: 

"Jules La Baut, PresH. 
" Very respectfully, yours, " L. B. Claiborne, Secr^y. 

Commenting on this the Vicksburg Times added : 

" The above exam pie of Captain Leathers should be followed by every 
steamboat that comes to port, as it is the only security they have for 
frustrating the designs of unprincipled carpet-baggers, who are con- 
stantly prowling about among the colored race, in order to lead them 
astray. However, Pointe Coupee is not the only parish that will vomit 
forth its voice of thunder in praise of the above resolution. But we 
may hear from numerous others in parts of the State that the radi- 
cals little dream of. ' ' 



200 YAZOO; OR, 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

A PRESENCE — A TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD EVEN IN YAZOO — A 
jail-bird's "shell" — HIGH RESOLVES. 

DURING Charles' " fever" of the evening before no thought 
of teasing him had once obtruded itself upon the sanctity 
of his wrath; for we were all so wrapped within the presence 
of outraged justice that, to me, the little room of the strong- 
hold in which we were seemed a temple of the living God, 
scintillant with His anger or radiant with His love, according 
to the changes in my brother's eyes, which sometimes blazed 
with indignation, and at others danced in the hot tears of a 
sympathetic pity for the more deeply wronged colored people. 
The place was holy ground ! Sanctified ! Not by the prat- 
tle of tender, loving children, nor by the touch of holy, 
gracious woman, blessed as these are and restful, but by God's 
benediction resting on it. So, when the first rays of the 
morning sun had lighted the sides of Peak Tenariflfe not 
more than half way to its base, the merry morning calls of 
these two outcasts fell upon my drowsy ears, to prepare me 
for the entrance of the shoemaker's wife, the advance courier 
of breakfast. 

A night of perfect rest had changed everything. The 
sanctity of the stronghold had disappeared along with the 
solemnity that had filled it the evening before; along also 
with my dreams of home. Yes, home. For, although I had 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 201 

tried very hard to, I had not yet been able to feel quite at 
home in Yazoo. 

Observing my languor, Charles commenced rallying me 
about my habits; declared that my '' elevation "* had, after 
all, had the same eftect upon me as upon '' ordinary mor- 
tals," and I — was "putting on airs." 

Now, that was too good an opportunity for me to let pass, 
considering the circumstances, and so I fired back at him 
thus: " H-hem ! Pretty good that for a jail-bird." 

This proved an unfortunate remark for me, as well as for 
the General; for Charles at once drew himself within his 
" shell," and do what we might, we could not restore him to 
cheerfulness. That was indeed a sore subject to my brother. 
I do not recall any subsequent reference to it by either the 
General or myself during the remainder of his life in Yazoo. 
The kuklux seemed to appreciate the fact no less than we 
did, for neither the old ones nor the young ones ever men- 
tioned the matter; certainly never in his presence. 

By the time the new constitution was ready for submission 
to the " qualified registered voters of the State " for ratifi- 
cation or rejection, Charles, the Geneial and a handful of 
Unionists, who, after Stanton's victory over Johnson, 
openly espoused the cause of reconstruction, had succeeded 
in organizing a Loyal League or a Republican club in nearly 
every centre of population in the county. 

Thus, for the first time, there was a Republican party in 
Yazoo. The reader knows through what trial and by what 
sacrifice. Charles was its recognized head ; its soul. The 
General, by common consent, was its chief counsellor, while 
the postmaster and other Northerners, together with the 
Unionists and the pastor of the little " nigro church" with 
its official membership, constituted the organizing force. 
The delegates to the convention were its representatives. 
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of every one thousand of 
its membership had never yet voted the Republican ticket. 

♦Meaning my election to tliat " black-and-tan convention." 



202 YAZOO ; OR, 

Either they had been enjoined from doing' so as in 1866 
and 1860, by the " grape vine " process — which had been the 
case with the Unionists — or, they had been Democratic, 
Whig, or Free-Soil voters in States where roen hadhberty of 
choice in such matters, as was the case with many of the 
Northernersj or, as in the case of the freed people, the con- 
stitution, laws and customs of the State in which they existed, 
expressly withheld from them the right to do so on account 
of their race. Yet this party thus organized and so consti- 
tuted was destined to give to the world an example in self- 
government toward which the future Republic will turn with 
grateful heart. 

Let the incredulous reader withhold his smile or scorn 
until, in the course of this history, we shall have dug down to 
Elisha's bones. Then, if he be a lover of his country, of justice 
and of liberty, let him accompany the spirit of the immor- 
tal Lincoln from the dedication ceremonies at Gettysburg to 
that Yazoo grave-yard, and there again resolve, " that the " 
government of the people, by the people and for the people 
shall not perish from the earth." 

The following from the Vicksburg Diili/ Times, then one 
of the most prominent Democratic organs, is a fair sample 
of the newspaper editorials published in the State from the 
date of the passage of the reconstruction laws up to the assem- 
bling of our Constitutional Convention in January, 1868, 
and afterward. 

" A GOOD RESOLUTION. 

"The Democratic Club of Marion, Alabama, recently a Jopted unani- 
mously the following resolution: 

" Eesolved, That the members of this club, in their social inter- 
course, will not recognize any man as a gentleman, or a friend to 
his country, who may accept any appointment to office under the 
reconstruction acts of the Congress of the United States." 

" This resolution is good, but does not go far enough. If our peo- 
ple will refuse to speak to, or hold any kind of intercourse with such 
scoundrels as Eggleston, Barry, McKee, llailsback, et id omne uenns, 
much of their harm is gone forever. Would any sensible man ex- 
change any kind of courtesies with the villains who burn his house 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 203 

or murder his family? We fancy not. Ami yet the despicable 
wretches who seek to place us under the domination of ignorant 
negroes— to force them upon us as our political and social equals- 
affect to be terribly shocked that the Southern people should look 
upon them with scorn and abhorrence. This is the only true policy. 
Between the white men of the South and the advocates of negro suf- 
frage, there should be a deep ditch and a high wall, and these obsta- 
cles should be as fixed as fate, and as impassable as the gulf which 
separated Dives from Lazarus, when the former was in hell, suffering 
all its torments, and the latter was experiencing the beatitude of 
Heaven. They should be made to feel that they are despised out- 
casts, cutoff from all human fellowship and sympathy, and no com- 
panionship save that of the ignorant and besotted negroes they are 
seeking to use for their own base and selfish purposes. If the white 
men of the South will but adopt this policy— if they will neither 
speak to, or be spoken to by them, the negroes even will soon despise 
and scorn them as much as we do. Let this be done— let McKee, 
Speed, Barry, & Co., feel that the brand is upon them, that white 
and black alike avoid and loathe them— and our word for it the country 
will soon be rid of their presence. For ourselves personally, no man who 
favors negro suffrage and domination can be permitted to speak to us, 
to touch our hand, or receive in any manner the most ordinary cour- 
tesy or civility from us. Between them and us there can be nothing 
but hostility, eternal and undying, and there is not a murderer or 
thief in the world for whom we have not more respect than we have 
for the vagabonds who are seeking to impose negro rule upon the 
people of the South. 

"• The most abandoned criminal, the most cowardly murderer, the 
most despicable highwayman, that ever expiated their crimes on the 
gallows, in the State prison, or the galleys, are honorable and princely 
gentlemen compared to such wretched sneaks as Eggleston, Barry, 
McKee, Rails back. Speed, and the whole kennel of carpet-bag adven- 
turers now lording it in Mississippi." 

General Eggleston was at this time president of the con- 
vention. He was a brother or cousin of the gentleman of 
that name who was some years in Congress from Ohio. He 
had emigrated to Mississippi in 1865, and invested largely in 
real estate. Barry, McKee, and Kailsback were members of 
the convention, and Speed was a relative of the late Attor- 
ney-General Speed. He was then engaged in the practice 
of the law at Vicksburg. 



204 YAZOO ; OK, 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

A <JEXERAL ELECTION IN YAZOO — W. H. FOOTE VS. THE " HUMAN 
hornet" — NO LIVES LOST. 

THAT general election in Mississippi, when all the peo- 
ple participated for the first time, wil] long be remem- 
bered in Yazoo. 

The Governor and all State and county officers, with rare 
exceptions, were opposed to any " reconstruction " of the 
State, and zealous supporters of their own "plan," which 
was founded upon the idea that, as the State had failed, by 
rebellion, to take itself out of the Union, the only act neces- 
sary to entitle the people to share in the government of the 
whole country, was the surrender of their arms. 

True, this people had sent men to a representative body 
so called, which upon the demand of Andrew Johnson, in 
order to " disarm the adversary," as that President put it, 
had resolved that, '' The institution of slavery having been* 
destroyed in the State of Mississippi * * neither slavery," 
&c., " shall hereafter exist.''^ 

By whom was that institution destroyed ! By the " sov- 
ereign State ?" No, never. By the "sovereign people " of 
the State? No, never. What did they mean by such an 
ordinance ? 

They did not mean to surrender by their own act their 
legal claim to be reimbursed from the national treasury to the 

* Italics by the author. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 205 

full extent of the market value of the slaves emancipate 
the will of the nation ; they did not mean to estop their suc- 
cessors from resolving that, after all, slavery had not been 
destroyed. They did mean to dodge the question, and they 
did it. They justified their tergiversation on the ground of 
" present duress." Thus they thought, felt and acted then. 

This new constitution dodged nothing. Under its provi- 
sions the negro was a man, and all men were to be equal in 
their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Rec- 
ognizing the institution of concubinage prevailing in the 
State as more dem'>ralizing to the family and more destructive 
of manhood and womanhood than even that slavery which 
bad been "destroyed," this new constitution declared that: 

" All persoQS who have not been married, but who are now living 
together, cohabiting as man and wife, shall be taken and held for all 
purposes in law as married, and their children, whether born before 
or after the ratification of this constitution, shall be legitimate, and 
the legislature may by law punish adultery and concubinage," (Sec. 
22, Art. 12.) 

Recognizing in the diverse elements composing • the body 
politic, and the illiteracy and low civilization of the commu- 
nity, those dangerous germs that without restraint might, in 
a night, under favorable conditions, overspread the State 
with bankruptcy and ruio, this constitution declared further 
that : 

'•The credit of the State shall not be pledged or loaned in aid of any 
person, association or corporation; nor shall the State hereafter be- 
come a stockholder inany corporation or association." (Sec. 5, Art. 12 ) 
And 

'' The legislature shall not authorize any county, city or town to 
become a stockholder in or to loan its credit to any company, associa- 
tion or corporation, unless two-thirds of the qualified voters of such 
county, city or town at a special election, or regular election to be 
held therein, shall assent thereto." (Sec. 14, Art. 12.) 
And 

" The legislature shall never authorize any lottery, nor shall the 
sale of lottery tickets be allowed, nor shall any lottery heretofore 
authorized, be permitted to be drawn or ticWets therein to be sold." 



206 



YAZOO ; OR, 



Excepting these provisions, and the spirit of the Thirteenth 
and Fourteenth Amendments to the National Constitution, 
relating to slavery and the qualitications of a voter which 
entered into its fibre, this new constitution would have been 
accepted without a dissenting voice by the people of Cali- 
fornia, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, 
or Maine, as the equal of their own in the propriety and wis- 
dom of its provisions. Yet, the people of Yazoo divided 
upon it 80 bitterly that one portion of the whites became savages 
in their efforts to defeat it, while another lent themselves to 
all manner of devices, by cajolery, by bribery, and by intimi- 
dation, to the same purpose. 

Opposed to them were Charles, the General, five other 
Northerners, a handful of Unionists, the freed people — the 
Kepublican party of Yazoo. 

As the laws forbade freed people to own or acquire lands, 
there was but one plantation in the "hill portion" of the 
county where the Kepublican party could hold meetings, 
and there were but two in the" swamp portion." All other 
places of meeting were upon the broad highway, in the 
little negro church we helped to build, the Yankee strong- 
hold, secretly in the cabins of the freed people, upon for- 
bidden premises, or by secret meetings upon premises, the 
consent to occupy which had been secretly given. 

Of the Democrats, one party rode through the county as K. 
K. K.'s, threatening and endeavoring to scare the freed people 
from their right to vote. They did not dare to kill, because 
of the sterling qualities of the Freed man's Bureau agent.* 
But freedmen were whipped and "bundled" out of their houses 
without warning and driven upon the highway. 

On election day the "chairman" of the Democratic party 
and his numerous coadjutors fastened themselves upon 
Charles and the General, and assumed to be their " protect- 
ors " and " defenders " against calumny or personal violence, 
thinking by this means to arouse a suspicion in the minds of 

* There was but one Republican hung during that campaign. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 207 

the freed people that, at the last moment, they had been 
either converted, bribed, or driven to join the side of ''the 
people." And such reports were circulated far and near. 

Merchants deliberately rolled out of their warehouses bar- 
rels of flour, huge sides of bacon, or pork, or tossed out 
pairs of shoes, boots, pants, coats, hats, dresses, nay, money, 
which was freely and openly tendered to the freed people, in 
consideration of their consent to be led to the polls by one 
of their former masters and there voted for what they called 
^' the people's ticket." Lawyers, doctors, ministers, planters 
turned out personally and worked throughout the election as 
though they were working for life or for liberty. 

Nay, more, fair women, old, and those of tender years, 
turnd out and cooked food, went upon the street, and per- 
sonally solicited by coaxing and by coddling black and white 
negroes, votes for this " people's ticket." 

" The human hornet " was omnipresent, irresistible, 
irrepressible. Now on horseback, hunting for voters coming 
from the country, now running towards Charles or the Gene- 
ral, as though he would ride them down to give " the chair- 
man " or some one of his aids an opportunity to interfere 
for their protection, Henry Dixon was a host in himself. 
So persistent were " the chairman " and his aids in their 
attentions to Charles and the General, so often did they have 
to " interfere " to '' protect" them, so completely were they 
hemmed in and deprived of the power of locomotion by the 
crowd pressing about them, the day must have been lost but 
for the sagacity, courage, aad fidelity of the freedmen them- 
selves. 
One of these, W. H. Foote, was as active, zealous, and 
effective for the Kepublicans as Dixon was for the Democrats, 
lie went everywhere — into the most violent and blood thirsty 
crowds of whites — with head erect, brave words of cheer for 
friends, and only defiance for enemies. He was a " new- 
comer," and little known.* 

* He was a native of Vicksburg. 



208 YAZOO; OR, 

His audacity shocked the " whites " as the sudden appear- 
ance of some unexpected and invincible force upon the battle- 
field will shock a grand army about to clutch a great victory. 
Planters, merchants, doctors, lawyers, all who did not know 
him, said : 

^' Why ! look at that nigro; who is he? He has the auda- 
city of a white man! Where is he from ?" 

Before they had time to rally, Foote would have accom- 
plished his business — retaken some hapless freedmau cap- 
tured by the Democrats, inspired him to fidelity just as he 
was ready to surrender, and would be gone to some other 
quarter of the town on similar dut3^ 

Hearing that a large body — about four hundred voters — 
on their way in to vote, had been halted by Dixon and others 
of his party, just over the brow of Peak Tenaritie, he pro- 
cured a horse, rode out to the place, and, when met by Dixon 
with a threat that if he interfered they would shoot him, he 
replied: ''Shoot and be d — d!" Then, turning to the 
freedmen, he cried out, " Men, this is our day. The new 
constitution is for our freedom as well as that of our former 
masters. If ye reject it, ye reject liberty. Follow me!" They 
all obeyed. 

Dixon and his party had told these freedmen that Captain 
Morgan, the General and all the other Yankees " done 
sold out and left the country " that very morning, and, 
if they went to town there would be bloodshed, because the 
white people never would submit to be governed by their 
slaves. Surprised and overwhelmed by the audacity of 
Foote, nearly the whole party had deposited their ballots 
before '' the enemy " could recover. Then there would have 
been bloodshed but for the cool head and brave heart of 
Charles. 

Learning of what had been done, the party that had held 
him prisoner for above three hours broke, and joining their 
comrades from other points were about to break the " line," 
as the long file of Republican voters which Foote had res- 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 209 

cued, was called. Being released, and divining the cause, 
Ctiarles pursued them, and arrived upon the ground just in 
time to place himself between the angry and now half- 
crazed whites and Foote and a handful of freedmen, who, 
armed mostly with sticks, were " stanin' thar groun'," and 
^' talkin' back " to the whites in a manner most exasperating — 
to them. Seeing Charles' movement, several of the '' guard " 
who had done but little else during the election but to keep 
near hinj and the General, and certain other very solid freed- 
men, gathered close in around him, literally making a shield 
for him of their bodies. 

But his cool, calm, unimpassioned words — he had pur- 
posely left his pistol at home that day — stilled the storm 
after a brief spell. The whites put up their pistols. Foote 
and one or two of his party put up theirs. The sticks went 
back into service as canes, and, so, through similar trials, 
hair-breadth escapes, and exhibitions of sagacity, fidelity, 
and courage, the election passed and the day, in Yazoo, was 
won for the liepublicans, without the loss of life. 



14y 



210 YAZOO; Oil, 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

DO SOUTHERNERS HAVE PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR — TWO MORE 
BRICKS — AN APOLOGY. 

AT that first general election in Yazoo I was not present, 
and the facts here given relative to it are faithfully set. 
down as they were detailed to me subsequently over and over 
again by both the General and Charles, scores of the freed- 
men, and others, RepubUcans and Democrats. 

There were several counties in the State without active 
capable Republican leadership. 

Yazoo had more than her share, so I had been detailed for 
service in the State-at-lage. There is one county in the 
north of Mississippi where at the time of which I write the 
blacks outnumbered the whites two to one, and where 
there was a strong *' Union element" before the war. In 
the course of my canvass it was announced that Judge 
Loring and myself would visit the county- seat of that county 
on a certain date " for the purpose of addressing the people 
upon the issues of the day " — our new constitution. 

Arriving there on the day appointed we were surprised to 
find that, although public announcement of the meeting had 
been duly made, there was no one present nor any sign of 
preparation for the .^peaking. 

After 8up[)er, guided by a genial host, we were seated on 
the ample gallery surrounding the low story-and-a-half hotel 
on three sides, enjoying our cigars just as the moon lilting 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 211 

herself above the grove of China trees which surrounded the 
court-house, deepened by contrast the mystic shadows that 
hung like a pall over the dense forest of cypress and gum 
which covered the lowlands between us and the Mississippi 
River. The notes of the mocking-bird reached our ears from 
the valley below. The soft and gentle air was odorous with 
the fragrance of sweet flowers. Our journey with horses had 
been long, our supper excellent and our cigars were luxurious. 
One after another the neighbors and townspeople dropped in 
— for the Yankees had come — took seats upon the porch, its 
long steps, in chairs upon the ground in front, upon benches 
scattered about, or, lay down upon the warm earth; all chat- 
ting about their goods, their crops, their horses, their neigh- 
bors, or politics. Nearly all were smoking like ourselves. 
There was no drunkenness nor any liquor drinking. Belcw 
us lay their homes and firesides. 

They had heard there was to be a speaking there that day. 
"Oh! yes; but it was their busy season and they had not 
'low'd to go nohow." " Why were none of the colored peo- 
ple out ? " the judge inquired of the principal lawyer of the 
place. 

" Well, our people didn't think it was best." 

In the course of a discussion between one of the physicians 
of the place, a person of undoubted skill and much learning 
in his profession, I drew out the acknowledgment that, after 
all, it was not so much the " disfranchising clauses " of the 
new constitution that "our people" objected to as another 
clause, viz: Section 22, of Article XII, relating to concu- 
binage; for, while hotly replying to some criticisms 1 had 
advanced upon the nature of the canvass inaugurated by the 
leaders of the party opposed to the ratification of the new 
constitution, that popular physician exclaimed: 

" Why, sir, that so-called constitution elevates every nigro 
wench in this State to the equality of ouah own daughters. 
The monstrous thing ! Look at it faw a moment ! Ever 
since Washington's time — and he understood it — the world 



212 YAZOO ; OR, 

wide fame of the fair ladies of the South faw beauty, faw 
refinement, and faw chastity has been ouah proudest boast. 
This vile thing you call a constitution robs us of that too." 
" My good sir, how do you make that out ? " 
" Possibly you all are ignorant of the effects of the work 
you've been doing down there at Jackson. But that only illus- 
trates another objection ou' people^have to anything you all may 
do. Such work ought never to be entrusted to strangers, faw 
the very good and sufficient reason that they can't be expected 
to know the peculiarities of the people to be afiected by it. 
Everybody who has resided in the South long enough to get 
acquainted with ou' people and thar ways must know that 
the nigro women have always stood between ouah daughters 
and the superabundant sexaal energy of ouah hot-blooded 
youth. And, by G — d, sir, youah so-called constitution tears 
down the restrictions that the fo'sight of ouah statesmen 
faw mo' than a century has placed upon the nigro race in 
ouah country. And, if you all ratify it and it is fo'ced on the 
people of the State, all the d — n nigro wenches in the country 
will believe they'rejust asgood as the finest lady in the land; 
and they'll think themselves too good faw thar place, and ouah 
young men'U be driven back upon the white ladies, and we'll 
have prostitution like you all have it in the North, and as it is 
known in other countries. I tell you, sir, it'll raise h — 1 gen- 
erally 'twixt ouah young men, and the nigros, too. The end 
of it all will sho'ly be the degradation of ouah own ladies 
to the level of ouah wenches — the brutes ! " 

During this speech neither the speaker nor any of his audi- 
tors appeared to be in jest. On the contrary they were all in 
sober earnest, and while it was being delivered that })liiloso- 
pher was the center of interest. Full twenty of his neigh- 
bors and fellow-townsmen heard this argument thus pre- 
sented, and not a voice was raised in disapproval, or to 
modify in the slightest degree the force of the only inference 
to be drawn from it in its bearing upon the character of the 
women of the State, no less than the men. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 



213 



Hardly were we comfortably in bed when we heard a 
knocking at the door, ao faint at first that we did not know 
what it was. The Judge sprans: out and opened it while I 
stood ready for defence. A young freed oaan crept in, trem- 
bling so from fear we could ill make out anything he said. 
At last, by putting this and that together, we learned that 
the freed people who had heard of the meeting would have 
atended only the '^ white geutlemens" sent word that there 
would be " a fight " in town that day. 

There had never been a Republican meeting in the county, 
nor yet a school for colored children, and we afterward 
learned that fully half of the colored population did not 
know they were free. 

I ought to add here, in justice to the women of the South 
and to myself no less, that I could not then have been brought 
to utter in support of any cause such reasoning as that phy- 
sician advanced against our new constitution. Even now 
when the cause of truth, seeking to promote human liberty 
and happiness by meeting out simple justice to the negroes of 
the South, imperiously demands that I shall sacrifice my own 
pride, my own feelings and my own " interests " upon its 
holy altar, I have brought the incident forward and given 
it a place here only because it illustrates better than any other 
I might give, the utter absence of prejudice against color on 
the part of the native whites of Mississippi. 

The reader will therefore pardon this digression from the 
general course of my narrative. I promised to confine it to 
Yazoo, I have ventured beyond that county in this instance 
only because the time, place and circumstances surrounding 
all the parties to the incident seem, to me, to make it fit in 
more snugly than any other I might mention, with the bricks 
that form the base of the completed structure. 



214 YAZOO : OR, 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

" HOW ARE YEAV, MORGIN? " — DEFEATED BUT NOT CAST DOWN — 
TIMELY SUCCOR — '' GRAND OLD FLAG." — IT IS OVER- -A SEARCH- 
ING OF HEARTS. 



ALTHOUGH Yazoo and a number of other counties were 
carried for the constitution in the State, it failed of 
ratification. And as soon as the struggle was over, I found 
the " little garrison of the Yankee stronghold " in mourn- 
ing. But the town was in holiday attire, and in place 
of angry words, threatening gesture, fierce looks, and oppro- 
brious epithets, I was greeted all the way there and upon 
my arrival with only laughter and ridicule, accompanied 
with requests intended to be sarcastic. 

''' How are yew, Morgin ? " 

" Say, got any money left over from yo'r last investment?" 

" What are convention warrants goin' at now ?" 

" G'wain back on to Tokeba ?" 

" How's the saw-mill business ?" 

" Say ! the General's done gone dead." 

" Got yo' carpet-bag packed ?" 

*' When ye g'wain to start ?" 

" Have you found out what O'oophie means yet?" 

" Good-bye— ta, ta !" 

The only response made by the little garrison was as com- 
plete a surprise to " the enemy " ag any the anti-reconstruc- 
tionists had yet sufiered. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 215 

When they came down town next morning the first thing 
which attracted their notice was 'Hhe old flag," flying from 
a window of the stronghold. 

There was no mistaking it. There it moved in all its orig- 
inal glory. " Not a stripe erased, nor star obscured." And 
from its folds rang out, in tones so loud and clear that none 
mistook their meaning, "The little garrison of the Yankee 
stronghold in Yazoo may die — it will never surrender." 

This was the first " Yankee flag " that the air had been 
permitted to kiss in Yazoo since the " Yankee soldiers " of 
General Sherman withdrew from that region. The only one 
planted in the faces of Yazoo rebels by a private citizen since 
that one which the Unionist had hauled down in 1860, in 
obedience to the " will of the people " of Yazoo, enforced 
with a " grape vine."*' 

The audacity of the little garrison proved not only their 
fidelity ; it was also their shield. 

Taken " all aback " by it the rebels lost their cunning. The 
white boys threw stones at the flag, white male rebels scofled 
at it, white female rebels abandoned that street as if infected 
with small-pox ; or if, as was sometimes the case, they were 
compelled by some emergency to pass that way, on approach- 
ing it they would lift their skirts, cross over to the other side 
of the street, turn up their noses, turn away their faces, and, 
it was said by themselves, hold their breath until they had 
passed through the region of atmosphere infected by it. 

Grand old flag ! for so it seemed to us then. Its silken 
folds and gay colors diverted from our heads the bolts 
which "the enemy" had forged, out of their malice and 
greed, with which to further ;itfliet the garrison should it still 
refuse to sun*ender, and all unconsciously emptied them out 
again upon the heads of its traducers. 

Grand old flag ! for so it seemed to the freed people. Men, 
women and children who beheld it with upturned faces, 
moistened eyes and grateful hearts, while they gathered from 
its ringi ig tones the courage to hope or, as they often did, 



216 



YAZOO ; OR^ 



to stop in the street, lift from their heads the ragged covering 
they called a hat, and give three cheers for the "Flag of Free- 
dom." 

Grand old flag ! for so the Unionists said when, as some 
did after a detour which took them through the livery stable, 
and up into the stronghold by the baakway, they came to 
crave leave to kiss it. 

'' Grand old flag ! " 

Here is an editorial from the Meridian Mercury, of July 
7th, 1868 : 

"IT IS OVER. 

" With a sigh of relief, thank God, we can announce that it is 
over; the election, the most disgusting, disgraceful, and degrading 
thing ever devised by the malice of man. Thank God, it is over! 
and pray His Holy name to remove the sin-created and sin-creating 
thing, negro suffrage^ the most abominable of all abominations; the 
' sum of all villainies,' to which the sin of slavery is as snowy white 
to coal black; to remove it from the land, and sink the hell-deserving 
authors of it to everlasting perdition ! Confound them; blast them 
with His righteous auger, and sink them to the lowest depths— deeper 
down than the sympathy of the infernal spirits that inhabit the 
blazing regions of hell can ever reach — aye, down to the bottom of 
the ' bottomless pit,' were a righteous prayer of every good, God- 
fearing man and woman, and should ascend fervently to heaven, 
welling up from the depths of humbled but trusting hearts. 

'•To say that the Great Ruler will not listen to the prayer, if we 
pray fervently and walk uprightly, and keep ourselves unspotted and 
free from all contamination with the accursed thing, and hate carpet- 
baggers and scalawagers, and proudly scorn to debase ourselves, as 
they do, to say that He will not listen to such a prayer, is to impugn 
God's justice. Let us all pray to God and keep our consciences clean, 
remembering that God permits them who will to defile themselves. 

"And when we pray fervently and trustingly to God for help, let 
us not forget that He helps them that help themselves. If we expect 
heaven's [aid. we need not lie supinely and wait for it ; it will never 
come. God loves positive men, earnest men, working men ; and as 
fathers bestow the largest patrimony upon tlieir sons who are work- 
ing and thrifty, and cut off the worthless Avith a penny, so God's help 
comes to those who work in His cause. 

'' The first preparation for the great work before us is to shape and 
temper our firm resolves until they be hard as adamant and as true 
as steel. Then with the skull-and-cross-bones of the "Lost Cause" 
before us, we will swear that ' This is a white man's government; 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 217 

and, trusting in our firm purpose, our good right arms and tlie God of 
Bight, we will maintain it so ! ' 

" If we falter now. we shall be damned ; and let us see to it, that 
he be damned who does falter. Out upon a recreant white man who- 
turns his back upon his race to marshal and direct negroes who are 
howling like savages at the ballot-box in the work of degradation ! 
Condemn him ! Spit upon him ! 

" Now that it is over, let there be a searching of hearts. It can 
scarcely be possible that those who have participated in the late strug- 
gle have been contaminated with negro suffrage, or can look upon it 
with the least degree of allowance. Those even who have been most 
active and successful in the canvass with the negroes, and who in 
their enthusiasm may have been led to invoke God's blessing on 
the 'glorious colored Democracy,' should have the sternest face set 
against the abomination of negro suffrage. They have seen the mon- 
ster, seen it good, and should have learned to hate it with intensity. 
But, let there be an inward searching of hearts, and if there be any 
weakness, any faltering in the cause of white supremacy, a manly 
struggle will overcome it. 

'•Could Salmon P. Chase have been in Meridian during the three days 
of our election, and seen what was to be seen, in his heart he must 
have been cured of his abominable notions of universal suffrage. 
Look back at the things we have passed through and be a white man. 

"In whatever we do to maintain supremacy of race, remember it 
will and should recoil upon us, and defeat our ends and aims, if we 
forget to be forbearing with the negro, and just and honorable in all 
our dealings with him; and yet, while we are all this, we must make 
him understand that we are the men we were when we held him in 
abject bondage, and make him feel tliat when forbearance ceases to 
be a virtue, he has aroused a power that will control him or destroy 
him. 

" Thank God the election is over ! And now let us dismiss it from 
our minds as the paramount thought, resume our usual avocations, 
and strive again to make a living, and enough over to pay the taxes 
the negroes and their allies are pressing out of us by force of the 
arms of the Federal Government, as best we can, until the white men 
can assert their rights, and suppress the robbery." 

The editorial comments of at least one of the two Yazoo 
papers were equally felicitous. I had preserved them, but they 
have been lost or mislaid in the long years which have inter- 
vened. 



-218 YAZOO; OR, 



CHAPTER XXX. 

A *' DEMOCRATIC SCHOOL " AND WHAT CAME OF IT — SLIGHT DIF- 
FERENCES OF OPINION. 

DURING that campaign j'ust before the day of the election, 
the anti-reconstructionists hit upon a new plan for 
capturing the votes of "our nigros." It was quite novel, as 
the following from the Yazoo Banner will show : 

"DEMOCRATIC SCHOOL. 

"Yazoo City, June 26, 1868. 
"We. the undersigned citizens of Yazoo City, promise to pay monthly 
the sums opposite our names for a school for the express purpose of 
'educating the children of the members of the Colored Conservative 
Club of Yazoo City, provided the sum of fifty dollars is subscribed. 
The school to be controlled by a board of trustees selected by the 
club, and to continue for a session of five months : 

Wm. Byrns $1 00 per month. 

J. L. Covert 2 00 " " 

€harles C. Dyer 100 " " 

M. Dusseldorf 1 00 " " 

M. B. Kellogg 100 " '' 

M. Gusdofer 100 " '• 

Stern & Lurch 100 " "■ 

John Link 100 " " 

John Kent 100 " " 

Dr. H. B. Kidd 100 " 

Rosenthal & Deles 2 00 " " 

Charles W. Boyd 100 " " 

H. Haider & Bro 100 '' '■'■ 

James Cotter 100 " '• 

O.W.Brantley 100 " 

W. H. Miingum 100 '• " 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM, 219 

H. C. Tyler 1 OOpermonth. 

Joseph Sclimitt 100 " 

N.G. Nve 100 '' 

Ed. Drehning 1 00 " 

JohiiT. Heth 100 '• 

M.W.Smith 100 '• 

W.S.Epperson 100 " 

S.J. Pepper 100 '• 

W.H.Patterson 25 " 

-JS. Patterson 25 " 

W.Z. McCr.'cken 100 '' 

P.M.Doherty 100 " 

R.E.Craig 100 " 

F. Barksdale 100 •• 

H. Harrison 1 00 " '• 

R.Power 100 '' 

J. O. Hunter 100 " 

Peter Lander 100 " 

•Stout & Patterson 1 00 " 

Alex. Smith 50 " '^ 

J. N. Ratcliff 50 •' 

M. Berry 1 00 " 

G. A. Gibbs 1 00 '' 

G.Andrews 100 " " 

Samuel W. Jones 100 " '' 

John Henley 1 00 " " 

J. C Prewett 100 " 

P. F. McGinly 100 " 

R.S.Hudson .' 100 " 

JamesEllis 50 " '• 

W. Y. Gadberry 100 " 

E. B. Rundle 50 " 

P. Dever 50 " 

Thomas Ellis 100 " 

F.W.Battail 50 " 

Hobert Bowman 1 00 " 

Cash 1 00 " " 

H.S.Wilson 100 " 

It was the Banner of July 3, 186S. I am able to recognize 
in the list of names signed to that pledge some who after- 
ward became personal friends, some who became Republicans, 
and some most worthy men. But certainly one of the num- 
ber was a "Grand Cyclops" of the kukluxes, and was present 
on that memorable occasion when news was received of 
Stanton's victory over Johnson. 

I am sure that all who still survive — for some are dead — 
will pardon me for making use of their names, with which to 
adorn my narrative. 

But there was to be no peace for that school. Tlie bant- 



220 YAZOO; OR, 

ling came into existence in the midst of such a fire of wrath, 
against the Yankee stronghold of Yazoo, and all who affiliated 
with its garrison, North or South, in any way, that it endured 
but a sickly existence; there could not have been more than 
a half dozen or so pupils at the start, and it never numbered 
more than twenty. At the same time the school in the little 
church we helped to build was overflowing. 

The kind-hearted, sympathetic editor of the Ohio Progress 
little dreamed, when he wrote, to what uses his warm lines 
were to be put. But here they are, though my reader will 
have to wade through the Banner's comments, before coming 
to them. 

From the Yazoo Bannerol October 18, 1868 : 

"our democratic colored school— what an OHIO RADICAL. 

THINKS OF IT. 

'• The school established by our citizens last summer for the benefit 
of colored children generally, but more especially for the children of 
colored Democrats, is, we are glad know, in a most flourishing condi- 
tion. There are now about twenty pupils, all of whom, we are 
informed by Mr. Ricliards, the teacher, are making fair progress in 
their studies, and give most satisfactory evidence of substantial 
improvement. The little darkies are delighted, their parents are 
gratified at the interest thus displayed in behalf of their children by 
their white friends, and in every way the institution may be declared 
a decided success. 

" But to show our people how their efforts to improve tlie colored 
people and how their benevolence is appreciated by an Ohio radical, 
we reproduce an article on the subject of our colored school from a 
radical paper called the Aid to Progress which is published in the town 
of Wilmington, Ohio. The editor of this paper, we believe, was 
formerly a carpet-bagger, and was operating in Mississippi on the 
ignorance and credulity of the negroes but a few months ago as a 
means of earning a livelihood. But strange and unaccountable as it 
may seem, he became weary of enduring the scorn and contumely of 
respectable people and rummaging about negro quarers at night, and 
accordingly returned to Ohio, where he became the editor of a mean, 
dirty little radical newspaper. 

" Noticing an article in the Vicksburg Times, in which it was stated 
ihat a competent Democratic teacher was wanted to take charge of 
the colored school in this place, and being accustomed, like every 
other radical, to systematically maligning the Southern people and 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 221 

tracing every act of theirs to an unwortiiy or dishonorable motive, he 
makes the following comments on the aforesaid notice : 

" 'Let whoever reads the above remember that hundreds of men and 
women have been foully used, many of them murdered by those rebels, 
because they undertook after the surrender of the rebel armies to 
teach the ignorant negro. Thinking that they will be able to prevent 
them from acting with the party which gave them their freedom, these 
base wretches are now pretending to want them taught. Is there any- 
thing too criminal for modern Democracy to engage in V The negroes 
should of course be taught; but what is the motive by which this call 
for ' 'a competent Democratic teacher' ' is prompted? The most damn- 
ing that ever moved the heart of man. It is to use the vote and 
action of a human being as a means by which to enslave him. The 
treachery and villainy of those rebels stands without a parallel in the 
history of man. And yet there are honest men here in the Xorth 
simple enough to believe tliat they can be trusted with the govern- 
ment of these States.' " 

I have no doubt that everything Aid to Progress said upon 
this subject was equally as patriotic and sensible as the fore- 
going. But the B inner would not allow its readers to have 
any more of it, for on November 13, 1868, that paper closed 
the discussion thus : 

" Tlie Ohio radical editor, whose article on our colored school we 
•copied and commented on some time ago, replies to us at some length, 
but as he says nothing worth noticing, we will let the ex-carpet bagger 
have the last word ; so, good-bye, scalawag ! " 

My reader will not fail to note, however, that the writer 
in the Banner has dropped the word " Democratic," and now 
■calls it a "colored school." But then, that was after the 
two elections which were to be held during the " live months," 
for which a school was pledged by all of the above signers, 
viz : our election in Mississippi, and the Presidential election 
had passed, and when Grant had become the choice of the 
nation for President. It is evident, however, that his respect 
for a " carpet-bagger" or a ^' scalawag " had not materially 
iucreased. I ought to add that the "Democratic school" 
thus established, did not lonor survive the election of 1868. 



222 YAZOO ; or, 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

SOME OTHER THINGS ABOUT THE FLAG OF THE U. S. IN 18G8, IN.' 
YAZOO, MISSISSIPPI — STARING AT VACANCY — A DISCOVERY THAT" 
WAS NOT PATENTED — HOW, WHY AND WHEN "THE SOUTH? 
SOLIDFIED." 

THE flag of the United States in 1868 brought to the little- 
garrison hemmed within that Yazoo stronghold a sea- 
son of peace. For a little while, the lock which during the 
campaign for the ratification of the constitution had been- 
restored by the Unionist over the way to its place on the 
cistern was again removed, and the colored children could* 
gather together in the Sabbath-school that Charles and Gren- 
eral Greenleaf had organized in the little church on the hill,, 
that we had helped to build, without serious consequences to 
any one. Charles, the General or myself, could go to the 
post-ofBce for our mail all alone without peril of life or limb; 
the shoemaker's wife could buy provisions in the market, and 
the "guard" resume their usual occupation. 

But the captain in the oflice below, with "an ancestry,"' 
was in a very bad way. He had been an opium-eater for 
several years. The habit had grown upon him of late, untili 
it supplanted desire for strong drink and for tobacco; though 
Rarety still cared for him and ministered to his comfort 
variousl}'. Shortly after the flag was flung to the breezes in- 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 223: 

Yazoo, from our stronghold window, he was " observed to 
be worse." The lower edge of the bunting reached down so 
near his doorway, that he had to walk directly under its folds 
on passing out or into bis lair. Its shadows flecked his door- 
sill, and at times darkened his window. It was more than 
he could stand. The deep sighs and low groanings as of a 
soul in purgatory, which for months had ascended through 
the ceiling and into the rooms above, where the Yankee out- 
casts slept, grew more frequent and pathetic as the agonizing 
fever for more of the subtle drug wrought out its spell upon 
the wretched sutferer. 

Since that day when all three of us — Charles, the Greneral 
and myself — had solemnly accepted kinship with the negroes, 
on thoughts of abandoning them and returning ISTo rth had been 
allowed expression within the sacred precints of the strong- 
hold, if indeed one ever existed. But the hours hung heavily 
upon our hands, and the already lengthened visage of my 
brother grew longer, and its expression more stern and sad. 
His seasons of abstraction, when he would sit staring at 
vacancy with an air of listless unconcern, the antithesis of his- 
former self, grew more frequent, and lengthened from 
moments into hours. Kousing him from these spells I would 
challenge him for a walk. Our course always terminated 
upon the summit of one of the bluffs overlooking the low- 
lands. 

In spite of the disasters which had befallen our plans, a 
few moments here would bring back to his cheek the old 
glow, into his mind the old vigor, and into his heart all the 
strength of our old hopes. It was during such times that we 
formed new plans. Our experience in the swamps had taught 
us that nature had wrought a system of drainage and of levees 
that no hand of man or brain could excel. 

The entire Delta of the Misdissippi is honeycombed with 
rivers and bayous, which constitute at all seasons of the year 
a natural outlet for any surplus water that can come through 
the channels above, augmented as they often are, by heavy falls- 



2:24 YAZOO; OR, 

of rain below them. And whether the tide flow in or out, 
these lateral ditches, so to speak, have and perform the same 
function ; in the one case guiding the water pressed back by the 
down flowing torrents from above, out of the central channel 
and into the lagoons, brakes and lakes, which throughout the 
region are as numerous as the central channels or lateral 
ditches. In the centuries that have passed all these natural 
courses have become more or less clogged from natural 
causes, such as from accumulated vegetable growth, stumps 
of trees, logs, and from crumbled earth, etc., and therefore 
cannot act uninterruptedly. So it has come about that the 
pent up waters have swollen above the banks of these natural 
courses, and found a vent out upon the arable lands, destroy- 
ing in their relentless, tireless encroachment many millions 
•of hard-earned wealth, and even the necessities of life, in a 
single year, as often has been the case, since slavery found and 
occupied the inexhaustible soil of this wonderful country. 

These overflows carry out of the channels and deposit upon 
their margins, on every occasion, the debris and the soils 
which they have dragged down from the mountains and the 
intervening plains, thus creating by the course of nature a 
system of levees, compared with which all the efforts of 
■man must dwarf into littleness. I don't recollect, if I ever 
knew, which of us — Charles or I — made the discovery ; I think 
it was simultaneous. . 

13 ut certain it is, that he made the mathematical calcula- 
tions which resulted in a demonstration to us that further 
leveeing was but a waste of efl'ort, that the remedy lay in 
aiding the channels by straightening them, thereby increasing 
the velocity of the flow of the water in some instances; by 
narrowing or confining them, thereby forcing the current to 
deepen its own channel in some; by dredging in some; by 
removing the ''obstruction" in all; and by a system of 
reservoirs upon the main channels above, as the Missouri and 
Ohio, from which the flow could be regulated in such a man- 
rner as to maintain for navigation an uniform depth of water 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 225 

ill the current of the main channel the whole year round. 
By such means there would be constituted such artificial aids 
to the natui-al flow of the waters, the volume of which is each 
year increased as the great Basin is opened up for agricultural 
uses, as would forever remove all danger of overflow of the 
lo"wlands. 

Then Charles would say, pointing to the vast region below: 

" Yonder lies an empire surpassing India, surpassing the 
Nile; unequaled." 

And we would descend to the stronghold with a relish for 
dinner, however humble and scanty, as it often was. 

Then neither of us had read EUet's report of his survey of the 
Ohio River, nor Humphrey and Abbott's report of their survey 
of the Mississippi Nor had Captain Eads discovered to the 
country his scheme for removing the bar at the mouth of the 
last-named river. 

The vote of Mississippi would not be counted at the ensu- 
ing election for President — thanks to the kuklux and anti- 
reconstructionists, who by fraud, violence and murder, bad 
defeated our new constitution — unless, as many in Yazoo 
insisted ought to be done, the '■'• sovereign white " people went 
forward and held the election in their own way, as in times 
before the war, and trusted to a Democratic President and 
Congress, which they affected to believe would be triumph- 
antly elected by the North, to recognize its validity. 

There was good reason for their faith in such a result; for 
of the numerous drummers for Northern mercantile houses 
whom I met in the State, I do not recollect but one who did 
not loudly proclaim his own faith in it. 

To be sure, there were many who were not sincere in snch 
professions. One of these candidly acknowledged to me that 
he believed Grant would be chosen. " But," said he, " when 
one is in Rome, he must do as the Romans do, especially if 
he has goods to sell." 

Occasionally visitors from the North came to Yazoo, travel- 
lers, prospectors, and such as had relatives among the " old 
15y 



226 YAZOO ; or, 

citizens." These never came near us, and always appeared 
to seek out for counsel, or for information relative to the 
country, the very same '' high-toned, honorable gentlemen," 
who had most heartily welcomed us in 1865, and they were 
always taken in charge by them, just as we had been. We 
often saw them thus together, walking the streets or riding 
out to take a look at the country. 

Whenever we met such parties, as was sometimes the case, 
the strangers w^ere almost certain to be informed that we 
were " no-account fellows, who had come down there from 
God only knew where, and by ' consorting ' with nigros 
' from choice,' had brought upon ourselves the scorn and con- 
tempt of all the ^ best citizens,' " The only other thing we 
had succeeded in, was our effort to " stir up strife between the 
races." This we had accomplished so far as to entirely de- 
stroy the affection ^' our nigros" had always felt for their mas. 
ters. 

The logical effect of all that was to array against us the 
feelings of all '' new-comers" and visitors, and the open con- 
tempt which that class of persons were sure to manifest 
toward the outcasts, was always "happily" utilized by the 
anti-reconstructionists in still further solidifying the masses 
of the whites against us, our example and our opinions, and 
per consequence, against the Congressional plan of reconstruc- 
tion ; for, as those people had already had ample proof of 
the estimation in which we were held by " discreet Federal 
army officers" and soldiers, and by the " Northern mercan- 
tile classes," represented by their agents, and by the "com- 
manding general," and by " the President," now that we 
were despised and contemned by all travellers, visitors and 
new-comers, why should not the Unionist of 1860 and the 
masses of the poor whites conclude that we were indeed " no- 
account fellows," and finally come to believe what had been 
told them over and over again by the entire Southern press 
and by all the white leaders, that the Congressional plan had 
been engineered through Congress, and was being sustained 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 227 

by only a handful of fanatics like Sumner and Stevens, 
together with the " licentious " and " free love " elements of 
the country, represented by such women as Harriet Beecher 
Stowe, and such men as Henry Ward Beecher. Besides 
these weighty influences, there were others equally worthy 
of consideration and equally if not more potential with the 
great mass of the white people. 

It had not anywhere been denied that the South fought 
for independence as a means of better securing their " slave 
property," or that the North fought for the preservation of 
the Union, the emancipation of slaves having followed as one 
of the most unavoidable incidents of the struggle. And up 
to this time the Southern press had been largely taken up 
with quotations from the press of the North confirmatory of 
that view of the cause for the war, and of the chief result of it. 

Every utterance by a Northern Republican of note, or by 
a Northern Kepublican journal, that was, in fact, hostile to 
emancipation or to negro suffrage, or that could be made to so 
appear, was quoted throughout the press of the South, and 
commented on with direct application to the local leaders in 
the reconstruction movement. Every Northern newspaper 
account of violence at the North upon negroes, or of hostility 
to them was copied by the Southern newspapers and turned 
upon the reconstructiouists. Every account of a defalcation 
or of official misconduct by a Republican at the North; in 
fact, everything happening at the North which was likely to 
aid them in bringing the Republican party, or any of its 
members, into disrepute, whether of an official or private 
nature, of a political or social character, was copied from the 
Northern newspapers into the columns of the Southern jour- 
nals, and always accompanied with suitable editorial com- 
ment, calculated to show by contrast the higher morality and 
superior virtues of the people of the South. More than this, 
old Unionists were coddled, and the fact was pointed out 
to them that, notwithstanding their " well-known fondness 
for the Yankees," they were no better ofl' than '' we all seces 



228 YAZOO ; OR, 

sionists," nor "half as much thought of.'' Had' they ever' 
been reimbursed for their losses ? Had they been shown any 
greater consideration than even the " chief of we all, ouah 
President Davis ? " And the Unionists were compelled to 
admit that they had not been. They did not stop there. They 
tried to coddle the negro; pointed out to him the fact that 
he had as yet never received anything but promises from 
the Yankees; read to them the " news from the North," 
showing how some hapless negro had been hunoc for marry- 
ing a white woman ; how, perhaps, it was Fred. Douglass had 
been refused a ride in the white folks' car, or a seat at the 
white folks' table, " thar whar yo' god Mogin come frum;" 
how some great Republican leader had spoken against 
" nigros votin'," and never failed to conclude the interview 
by asking the poor freedmen, homeless, landless, almost 
naked, as so many of them were. " Whar yo' fohty acres o' 
land and a mool, de Yankees done gi'e to you all ? " 

Alas! the slave's dream of freedom had disappeared along 
with that " sour apple tree " upon which " we all Yankees '" 
had so often hung ''Jeff Davis," dropping only "apples of 
Sodom" upon the bare head of the mystified freedman. 
He could not answer his old master's criticisms of the Yankees. 
He did not even try, but he never failed to resent, in some 
manner, if in no other than a sullen silence, any criticism 
upon General Greenleaf, Captain Morgan, or " de Kunnel." 
He knew he had never been promised land nor mules by the 
Yankees, certainly not by the General, my brother nor by 
myself. He had never expected to acquire land in that way. 
And that freedman knew, as "'we all Yankees " well knew, 
that his master's reference to it was but a bitter sarcasm. 
That master knew that that freedman was entitled to some- 
thing for his long years of unrequited toil, and his taunt was 
nothing but the irony of the cruel wrongs the centuries had 
inflicted upon the black man through the divine right of the 
white man's power. All these facts, when taken together,, 
made it clear to the Unionists, with rare exceptions, that the 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 229 

thing we sought for there in Yazoo, after the defeat of our 
new constitutiou, had Httle support anywhere, North as well 
as South, except among the negroes and a " baker's dozen " of 
fanatical leaders in Congress, whose strength with the North- 
ern people would be found to lay with that dim and uncertain 
margin which existed between downright lunatics and shrewd 
far-seeing, self-seeking, money-making Yankees. Therefore 
the white race in Yazoo solidified. 

To be sure there were then, as there are now, at least two 
parties among the whites. One believed that slavery was 
unconstitutionally destroyed, and that therefore the North 
would have to pay for the slaves — if only the South could 
hold out just a little longer. The other party was composed 
of those who had no faith in the sincerity of Northern pro- 
fessions of regard or sympathy for Unionists or negroes, and 
meant to " lookout for number one.''^ 

We believed, indeed felt certain, that we knew to the 
•contrary. We believed, almost knew, that Grant would be 
elected. It was thus reduced to a question of endurance. 

The last dollar that I had been able to raise by the sale of 
my warrants, received for per diem while a member of the 
constitutional convention, I had spent in defraying my ex- 
penses in the State canvass. 

Charles had staked everything on Tokeba and in the saw- 
mill, and we were both too proud to ask our friends for any 
more help. 

The General had sent his wife and children to a place of 
refuge, and, although he had lost everything that he had 
invested there, he had received a small sum from some 
quarter, which he generously put into " the pot," thus keep- 
ing that prime essential " a boiling." 

My " convention suit," however, was getting threadbare, 
^nd Charles sorely needed a new hat and a new pair of pants. 



230 YAZOO ; OR,. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



THE WAR OF THE BADGES — HEROIC COLORED WOMEN — HOW MIS- 
SISSIPPIANS VOTED AS THEY FOUGHT IN 1868— MORE BRICKS. 

IN spite of our poverty we kept the flag flying from the 
window of the stronghold. 

The freed people had observed that the Democrats were 
wearing Seymour and Blair badges, and heroically started 
a fund for the purchase of some Grant and Colfax badges. 
The little sarrison were able to contribute a few *' last dimes" 
for such a purpose, and with the aid of a handful of North- 
erners, poor as om'selves, and a few Unionists, a sufficient 
amount was finally gotten together to pay for several hun- 
dred. They were at first entrusted to only the more cour- 
ageous of the freedmen, but their number increased so rapidly 
that very soon every Loyal League and every club possessed 
as many as one or two, and at least one person on many of 
of the plantations had one. 

" Jes' to let um know we doan' 'low' ter s'render," as 
Uncle Peter put it, these badges were to be worn squarely 
upon the left breast, and as nearly over the heart as conven- 
ient. By changing about every patriotic freedman and 
Unionist in the county would be able to wear one of the 
badges at least one whole day before the election. 

Now, the Democrats, old and young, male and female, had 
worn their badges without any regard whatever for our feel- 
ingrs. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 231 

It has not been my purpose to fortify any statements 
I may make with '' documentary evidence." However 
desirable such evidence may be deemed by some at this 
stage of our narrative, by the time the reader has followed 
me to the end, he will consent to waive his own desire for it. 
Kor do I now intend, by bringing forward the following, to 
violate this rule, but rather to supply the basic element 
of the narrative with an acid it may otherwise be found to 
want. It appeared in the local columns of The Banner in 
its very lirst issue after the arrival of '^^ our badges/' dated 
October, 1868; and runs as follows : 

'•A large number of Grant and Colfax badges have been distributed 
among the colored population of Yazoo City during the last week by 
the carpet-bag agents of radicalism. The freedmen are profusely 
decorated with "counterfeit presentiments'' of the radical candi- 
dates for President and Vice-President, no doubt praising the liber- 
ality of their radical friends in presenting them with these little 
ornaments free of charge. They don't know that ?re all have to pay 
for them in the grinding exactions their party indicts upon us." 

There it is, verbatim et literatim, just as it stands to this day 
in the original now on file in my "scrap-book." Its full 
value will be better appreciated by the reader when the fact 
is made known that the only "exactions" our party had yet 
" inflicted upon we all " was in the nature of a tax levied by 
the convention to defray the expenses of per diem of its mem- 
bers — there being no money in the State treasury — and for 
stationery for its use, etc., the collection of which had been 
enjoined, and which the anti-reconstructionists had refused 
to pay. 

These badges so excited the ire of " the enemy" that sev- 
eral of our brave friends got themselves into serious trouble 
on account of them. Woe to the hapless freedman caught 
wearing one beyond the shadow of the flag flaunting from 
the Yankee stronghold ! If upon the highway he was some- 
times seized by the very first "repentant" rebel who met 
h im and whipped or, at the least, robbed of the priceless trea- 
sure. 



232 YAZOO ; OR, 

Some not only talked back, they also struck back, and the 
Bureau agent had a number of cases before him growing out 
of such conflicts. 

Grave, dignified, '•'■ high-toned, honorable gentlemen " de- 
bated seriously whether those wearing them ought not to be 
arrested under tJie act of their legislature of 1865-'66 pre- 
scribing a fine or imprisonment or both in the discretion of 
the court for " insulting gestures largely, or acts" of " freed- 
men, free negroes, or mulattoes" against a white man, 
woman, or child, and many denounced the "practice" as 
'' incendiary," and liable to incite a " wah of races." 

" Mr." Foote, as he was called by the freedmen, " Foote," 
as he was termed by the whites, for his defiance of them, had 
wrung from even the Democrats so much concession to his 
dignity, bravely, almost defiantly, wore one, sometimes two, 
pinned to the lapel of his coat and insisted upon walking upon 
the pavement while doing so, in utter disregard of Dixon's 
oft-repeated commands to " walk in the middle of the street, 
where other niggers go." 

These badges were the cause of domestic troubles almost 
without number; for if a freedman, having obtained one, 
lacked the courage to wear it at home on the plantation in 
the presence of "ole marsa and missus" or of "the overseer," 
his wife would often take it from him and bravely wear it 
upon her own breast. If in such cases the husband refused 
to surrender it, as was sometimes the case, and hid it from 
her or locked it up, she would walk all the way to town, 
as many as twenty or thirty miles sometimes, and buy, beg, 
or borrow one, and thus equipped return and wear it openly, 
in defiance of husband, master, mistress, or overseer. 

It was " General Grant's picture ! " Plow perfectly they 
could always speak those words and these other, " Abraham 
Lincoln," even in those earlier days of freedom, and to refuse, 
neglect, or lack the courage to wear that badge in the clear, far- 
seeing thought of those poor, "rising" freedmen and women, 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 233 

amounted almo3t to a volautary return to slavery. Those 
badges were also the cause of endless trouble in the families 
■of the auti-reconstructioniats ; for the white man's concu- 
bine, the mistress' maid, and their cook, were liable to appear 
in the family circle any day with *' Grant's picture " upon 
their breasts. Their children, minghng and uniting together 
like any other " happy family," divided into hostile factions, 
and their quarrels and wranglings often led to bloodshed — 
from the nose of some over-sensitive white boy of the 
" recognized " side of the family, or from the backs or legs 
of some too presumptuous '^ brat " or " pickaninney " of the 
'• unrecognized " side of the family. 

Altogether we concluded that the investment had proved a 
paying one; for aside from the value of the badge as an 
auxiliary to " party discipline," it had effect similar to the 
old flag in diverting from the httle Yankee garrison the 
thoughts of the enemy. But the day of our deliverance was 
at hand. 



234 YAZOO ; OR, 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

REASONS FOR THEIR FAITH — CERTAIN CITIZENS OBJECT TO THE 
RACKET OF THE K. K. K.'S AND AFTERWARD APOLOGIZE — DE- 
LIVERANCE — HURRAH FOR GRANT ! HURRAH FOR 11 — l! — " BOT- 
TOM RAIL ON top" — UNCLE PETER'S WISDOM — MAGNANIMITY OF 
FREEDMEN — A REMINISCENCE, 



THE operations of the ku-klux-klan, as well as its organ- 
ization up to this time, had been secretly carried on. 
But now, SO strong was their faith that the " Democratic 
white man's national ticket" would be elected,* this organiza- 
tion began a series of public demonstrations — just before the 
day of election — by way of preparation for future service, 
as we feared. 

* The Jackson Clarion, the official organ of the Mississippi Democracy of that date, 
in its issue of May — , 1868, contained the following : 

THE POLICY AND PROSPECTS OF THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY. 

" The intentions of the national Democracy, in the event of their triumph in the Presi- 
dential election, are thus foreshadowed by Colonel Forsyth, of the Mobile Register, in a 
letter to his paper from Washington City. Our people will see how deep an interest 
they have in the success of this grand old party of the Constitution in that elccticin : 

" I have taken a good deal of pains to learn what are the sentimentsof leading I'emo- 
cratsas to the action of the party, should it win the administration in the Xovember 
contest, in reference to Federal policy toward the South. It was a question of the 
largest practical interest, whether, shou'ld the Democracy come into power, it would 
leave the whites of the .South to struggle as best they could out of the mire of radical 
reconstruction, or whether it would not at once lift them out by the strong liand of 
Federal power. I get but one answer to the inquiry, and that is, that the Democracy 
will l)e swift to sweep from the statute books the whole system of military and .\frican 
reconstruction as tUterly null and void and of no etlect, "and at once to recognize the 
existing white constitutions of the Southern States, and readmit the latter into their 
full equality into the Union. I must confess that I did not personally need such assiir- 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 23"5 

Even at that early day, when gratitude tor the negroes' 
services in the war was still a living thing, and when the hope 
that " They would prohably help, in some trying time to come, 
to keep the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom,"* had 
neither been extinguished under the pressure of '• great busi- 
ness and commercial interests/' nor satisfied by the fulfillment 
of the prophecy, the " bloody shirt," known by another name 
then, had been made to do good service in the^orth. There- 
fore, the night riders of Yazoo had postponed the execution 
of their " decrees " against the little garri^n of the Yazoo 
stronghold, fearing its effect upon the " God-and-morality 
party," and now confined their visits to the unprotected 
cabins of the freed people, some of whom they dragged from 
their beds, whipped, forced to surrender their badges, or to 
take an oath never again to meet with the Loyal Leagues, 
Republican clubs, or try to vote. 

By that means, and by parading the streets mitil after mid- 
night, blowing tin horns and beating tin pans, they expected 
to create such a terror in the minds of the freed people as 
would deter them from coming to the succor of the garrison 
in the Yankee stronghold, when the final assault should be 
made upon it. 

But their " racket " had an opposite effect. It did not drive 
the freed people from the town nor prevent them visiting the 
stronghold in large numbers the two days preceding the elec- 
tion, and on that day, armed with their hard wood sticks. 
It did, however, disturb the " solid men " of the town in 
their slumbers, and the Banner warned them that they were 
misdirecting their efforts. That so incensed the " Grand Cy- 

ances, for when policy and good faith both point to one course, the result is seldom 
doubtful. But some Southern friends did deem them necessary. I think that before 
Congress adjourns the Democrats in that body will make a further declaration and 
pledge to this effect. ********* 

" In uttering the results of my own belief, I am able to speak cheering words to our 
poeple of the future. I have not a doubt of the verity of a deep and widespread popu- 
lar reaction against radicalism, and, if nothing untoward happens to check its progress, 
I am prepared to witness a revolution of the masses next Xovember, the like of which 
has not been known in the annals of American politics. The white stomach is sick 
unto nausea of the party deiflcation of the negro. It revolts at sharing the powers of 
Government witli him. 

• A. Lincoln to Gov. Hahn, March 1.3, 1861. 



236 YAZOO ; or, 

clops" that in its next issue that paper apologized as follows, 
to wit: 

[From Yazoo Banner, November, 1868.] 
"the kukluxes. 
" In our local last week regarding the demonstration of the ku- 
kluxes, or whatever else they were, we meant no disrespect to the 
organization or its members. We highly approve of the principles 
and objects of the ku-klux-klan (if we rightly understand them) and 
all kindred organizations, and our animadversion was intended simply 
to apply to the unnecessary noise that accompanied the last turnout. 
We are still of the opinion that no earthly good can be accomplished 
by blowing tin horns and yelling through town at the dead hour of 
night." 

But now our deliverance had come. 

The first glimmer of light from the sun of the advancing 
new era which we beheld cast such a shadow over the faces 
of the Democrats that, employing a difierent figure from that 
of our " distinguished divine " (himself the " rising " com- 
mittee of which I was the " distinguished " chairman*) to 
illustrate the color of a" Yankee's heart," its reflection lighted 
up the faces of the freed people, old and young, not excepting 
■even Dave Woolridge and Mr. Goosie's ferryman. There 
was no occult mystery in that fact nor evidence of any re- 
markable power of divination on the part of the freed people. 
The laws, customs, and practices of the country had for a 
century taught the negro to recognize in every white male a 
master, in every white female a mistress. 

Long practice had made them expert in reading the faces 
of the white people, and their judgment upon the meaning 
of the various shadings in color, a3 they came and went, was 
unerring. The " Chairman of the County Democratic Com- 
mittee " and the " Grand Cyclops " were the first to receive 
the news and at once went off and got drunk. The Stock- 
dales and other "solid men " of the town sought for comfort 

♦During the sitting of the constitutional convention at Jackson, winter '67-8, I was 
informed by "native-born white ladies " residing in that city that some months after 
the war this divine preached a sermon there, in the course of which he described the 
heart of the Yankee as so black "charcoal would make a white mark upon it." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 237 

in the bosoms of their families, " recognized and unrecog- 
nized." 

The white youths appeared on the street with their hand& 
farther down in their pockets if possible than ever. The 
planters from the country got drunk before starting home- 
ward, and yelled from the backs of their horses as they rode 
away, reeling to and fro in their saddles, " Hurrah for 
Grant! " " Hurrah^ for hell! " " O'oophie ! " " Polecat ! " 
" Carpet-bagger! " and, if perchance they met a group of 
freedmen, they would stop — as some did — and, as gravely as 
their maudlin tongues would permit, inform them: 

" Bottom rail on top now, sho 'nuft'." 

Or perhaps inquire of them : 

" What you all g'wain to do now with yo' god, Mawgin — 
make him Gov'nur ? " 

If the response was "Yes," as it often was, the rejoinder, 
as often as not, would be: 

" That's right, stan' by yo' friends. Hurrah for Mawgin 1 
Hurrah for hell ! Ya-er-hah'r'r'r ! O'oophie ! Polecat! " 

And ride on. 

Its effect upon the freed people surprised every one, even 
the Yankee garrison, great as its faith was in the intentions, 
purposes, and manhood of the freed people. Neither the Gen- 
eral, Charles, nor myself was prepared for so perfect a vindi- 
cation of that trust as followed. 

Instead of boisterous or even appropriate manifestations of 

joy at the election of General Grant, the only sign of their 

delight was manifested in their faces. There was hardly a 

suggestion from them of a jubilee gathering in honor of the 

event. 

Instead of resenting the commands of Dixon and a few 
others to walk in the middle of the street, they would always 
promptly yield the sidewalk to them. Instead of refusing 
to " uncover and stand with your hat in hand while talking 
with a white gentleman," they would, as a rule, politely lift 



258 YAZOO; OR, 

off their hats on such occasions and, if the person were a 
" white " lady, remain with the head uncovered until she 
should move on. Instead of addressing the whites by their 
proper or surnames they continued voluntarily tho old prac- 
tice. 

Some of the whites affected to see in this the subtle mock- 
ery of disguised insolence. Others insisted that it was due 
to their inability to comprehend the great boon of freedom, 
and still others that it portended the existence of some deep 
laid plot to '• rise " and ''kill all tha whites from the cradle 
up." 

To us the freedraen explained that it was a " great triber- 
lation on ole massa and missus ter be 'bleeged ter give we 
po' niggers all on us up, Kase dey done got oost t'wour 
bein' deirn fur so long dat 'peers like 'twe'l broke da' hearts. 
So nigger 'low he 'jes go long widouten hu'tin' da' feelin's," 
as Uncle Peter said. 

*'My color got no Ian' yit, an' skasely no larniu', an' heap 
better ha' de good will nor de bad will ole mars fur a spell 
yit," Uncle David said. 

'' The colored people fear the Lord," said the pastor of the 
little church on the hill that we helped to build, "and desire 
to show their manners to everybody. 'Sides, my people 
alwus did like the white people." 

"It'll be a long time before the race'll get shut of all feeling 
of dependence upon the white race. Great many of this 
present generation never will. Besides as for me, though I 
consider myself just as good as any white man that ever 
lived, I was raised with the Southern people, and I don't ex- 
pect them to grow out of their ways much faster than the 
nigros do out of theirn," Mr. Foots explained. 

On the day when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox 
I lay with many thousand Union veterans in a large open 
field, just over the brow of the ridge, upon the opposite side 
of which w'as now the famous "apple tree." When news 
of the fact passed along the lines a solemn hush fell upon 
the weary host. I felt no desire to cheer, I am sure, nor did 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 239 

I witness any boisterous demonstrations on the part of our 
boys during the whole day. I fancied that I saw in this con- 
duct of the colored people at Yazoo, some resemblance to 
that of our grand army at Appomattox, particularly in the 
absenceof all evidence of the existence of a revengeful feeling. 
As for the garrison, the extra bolts and braces for doors, extra 
bars for the windows, and the guard of stalwart freedmen 
gradually disappeared, got lost, melted away, and nothing 
remained of its former " brazen character " but " the grand 
old flag," which still flaanted the breezes of Yazoo. 

" Delicate white ladies " now walked timidly under its 
laughing folds. The white boys no longer threw stones at it, 
and we could leave it out flying all night with no fear of loss 
or injury to it. 



240 YAZOO ; OR, 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

CHARLES' NEW LEASE OF LIFE — UNCLE DAVID's CRAP — IT MIGHT- 
HAVE BEEN — FEATURES OF THE CHANGE, WITH THE EXCEP- 
TIONS TO THE RULE — A WAR REMINISCENCE — A SURPRISE. 

CHARLES appeared to enjoy the change more than any 
one else. He no longer had seasons when he seemed to 
look only at vacancy. On the contrary, he had an object in 
view which claimed his attention without variation, and 
when Congress met he accompanied other members of a com- 
mittee to Washington for the purpose of presenting the 
" Mississippi case " to that body. 

The General began to calculate the expense of getting his 
family to town and setting up his rooftree there with only less 
anxiety than he counted the days when the family would be 
expected. He appeared to take rather more pains with his 
toilet than formerly, and his hollow eyes and pinched cheeks 
rapidly gave way to a more wholesome expression of counte- 
nance. 

As for our faithful hands, who had sustained us no less 
gallantly in our political struggle than formerly they had 
done in our struggles on Tokeba, some had been able to eke 
out a scanty living at odd jobs; some had hired themselves 
under contracts made before the Bureau agent to native 
planters in the neighborhood, or had succeeded in obtaining 
small patches of land to work on their own account. Of this- 
last number, Uncle David was the most successful. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 241 

After leaving Tokeba — winter 1867-'8 — he succeeded, 
through the protection of the Bureau agent, in renting fifteen 
acres of land, adjoining Mr. Gosling's, for which he paid, in 
advance, all the money he had or could beg or borrow, viz. : 
thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents. He had neither horse, 
mule, ox, cow, sheep, goat, nor pig; neither wagon, plow, ax, 
shovel, spade, rake, nor hoe; nothing but the new clothes 
he had purchased while on Tokeba, bed, chairs, and skillets, 
and the food which he shot in the woods, caught from the 
river, or " exchanged work " for. Yet, with the aid of his 
wife. Aunt Betty, and one daughter, this black secured as net 
proceeds of the year's work — 

2,030 pounds cotton, at 2s. per pound, current rates then $480 

100 bushels corn, at $1 per bushel lOO 

70 bushels of potatoes, at $1 per bushel 70 

Vegetables 40 

Fodder 25 

Total $715 

David was sixty-eight years of age, Betty sixty, and the 
daughter sixteen. 

As for the Northerners, of those who remained through 
the siege, one returned North, one opened a store in town, 
and one, who had "surrendered" early in the struggle, in 
company with some " ex-Confederates," went to Louisville 
and Cincinnati, where they gathered up a large number of 
ring-boned, spavined and otherwise crippled and broken-down 
horses, " fed them up " for a brief spell, and then brought 
them to Yazoo, " to sell to the darkies." 

The year's crop of cotton exceeded any that had been stowq 
in the bottoms for seven years. It was an extraordinary yield, 
and Charles and I could not help feeling that but for our 
fidelity to truth and the right in opening a school for the chil- 
dren of our hands, and in other matters, we would have 
shared in the wealth it brought ; for the term for which we 
leased Tokeba ended with the year 1868. 

But the election of Grant, even though he would not take 
16y 



242 YAZOO; OR, 

his office until March following, secured to the freed people, 
who had made uinetj-nine out of every hundred pounds of 
it, a fair proportion of their share, except in some few in- 
stances where their employers or landlords still pleaded "the 
statute," which denied to a " freedman, free negro or mulatto " 
access to the courts, and enforced their view with the shot- 
gun or, as in many cases, ran the crop off to New Orleans, 
sold it, pocketed the money, and then told the laborers to 
^^git up and git." 

As for Colonel 131ack, having failed to sejure the requisite 
labor to work Tokeba himself, he had lost a year's rent and 
one good year's crop, and walked the streets leaning upon bis 
cane, with all the evil spirit subdued, and silent, except when 
whisky " spirits " had possession of him. 

As for Mrs. Black, she mourned in sackcloth and ashes the 
^^ degeneracy of the times " and her " hard fate." 

As for her daughters, one of them succeeded in marrying a 
Pennsylvania " Yankee," who had readily adapted himself to 
the " ways of the country," and who forthwith undertook to 
'' run Tokeba." 

As for the " Grrand Cyclop?," two continued in their prac- 
tice of the law " in all the courts of Mississippi," and all of 
them agreed to " wait and see what would turn up next." 

As for the "chairman of the Yazoo County Democratic 
Committee," he returned to his usual occupation, taking along 
withhimthe" human hornet," whom he carried under his arm. 

As for the '^radical delegates to the black-and-tan conven- 
tion from Yazoo," Captain Clark accompanied Charles to 
Washington, the blacksmith rented a small building in 
Yazoo City, and with the remnant of his convention war- 
rants opened a shop on his own account. And as for me — 

On that tirst day of the battle of Gettysburg, after fighting 
from early morning to near nightfall, I received a wound 
which stretched me out upon a cot in a little room in Balti- 
more, so that for months I could not sit up nor turn over. 
When at last, the kind, skillful surgeon gave me leave to do 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 243 

SO, and I was placed in a chair by an open window, from 
which I could see the hurrying throngs of men, women and 
children, the railway train arriving from a distance, the hills 
and forests beyond, a glorious jSTovember sunset, and heard 
the nurse say I would be allowed to " go home soon," I for- 
gave the rebel ^vho shot me, forgot the sores upon my 
back, everything in the thrill of the moment, and cried; 
so now, in this moment of restfulness and joy, I forgave 
'^ the chairman of the Yazoo County Democratic Commit- 
tee," the Barksdales, Harrisons, and Kelloggs, their poor re - 
turn for our firm's liberal patronage during our struggle with 
Colonel Black and his aiders and abettors; Dave Woolridge, 
who, through the '• friendship of the whites," had added a 
hotel to his saloon, and now allowed me to know that I could 
have my meals at his house ; even the captain with " an 
ancestry," though his nocturnal combats with bats, owls, liz- 
zards, and snakes, now became seriously frequent and annoy- 
ing; and *' the enemy," male and female, whom I had met in 
'^^ better times," and under " more favorable auspices," who 
now began by ones and by twos to " see " me gradually as 
we passed upon the street, and I returned their salutations, 
however faint as at first they were, cordially. " The war is 
over," I said, " let us have peace." 

I forgot Tokeb,'., the " black-and-tan convention," the 
kuklux, the blows, curses, epithets; the jibes, jeers, and the 
scorn; all, except the "human hornet," Ben Wicks, the 
planter of "many thousand acres and many hundred slaves" 
formerly; Major Bob Sweet, the bull- dozer; Harry Baltimore, 
the irreconcilable ; Joe Telsub, the K. K. K. commander ; 
Colonel Black, and a few others, who would neither allow me 
to forgive nor forget, but kept up to the end a sj)iteful and 
revengeful warfare. 

I believe in my soul that their course was altogether 
prompted by my iuability to forget our friends and the *' Old 
Flag," which still flaunted from that window of my quarters 
— •' stronghold " no longer. 



244 YAZOO ; OE, 

The change in the character of our quarters^ — from st. 
"■ stronghold " to " apartments " — which took place on the 
departure of my brother for "Washington, came near costing 
the remnant of the little garrison their lives. This was the 
winter of 1868-'9. It occurred about midnight. The Gen- 
eral and I had been more than usually absorbed ih our legal 
studies, and had not yet retired. The first note of warning 
was a shuffling of feet upon the pavement below — the same 
where our " guard " to the Sabbath- school used to form — and 
a low, suppressed tone of command: " Halt," " right dress/' 
" front," " order arms," " parade rest." While these com- 
mands were being hurriedly given, we sprang to the win- 
dow, peeped out through the shutters, and saw not less than 
thirty, perhaps forty, men, all disguised in black hoods- 
and gowns, so that they could not have been identified by a 
passer-by, and armed with guns and pistols, and what appeared 
to be wooden guns — such as are used in drill practice. 

Although since the announcement of Grant's election our 
former precautions had been abandoned, we still kept our 
Spencers and revolvers within easy reach from the bed. Seiz- 
ing these and hastily placing an additional prop against the 
door, we stood ready, " cocked and primed " for an attack 
almost by the time the klan were at a " parade rest." Their 
only way of approach to our rooms was up the narrow flight 
of steps between the adjoining building and that in which we 
were, immediately in front of them, or by going around 
through the yard of the livery stable and up a narrow, rick- 
ety stairway at the rear, which led from the ground to our 
back gallery. In either case they would have to cross the 
back gallery a few steps before reaching the door. 

There was no stalwart " guard" there now. The occupant 
ot the office below had vacated it or had been silenced. No- 
sound came from that quarter and we waited in breathless 
suspense for the first warning of approach up the stairway. 
After waiting a moment and hearing none, and, fearing their 
purpose might be to fire the building, the General crossed 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 245 

over to the front window to see what the kukluxes were 
doing. He at once made a sign for me to come to him, which 
I did. On looking out 1 saw one whom I took to be Captain 
Telsub, of the "Cyclops," at the head of the file, in close, whis- 
pered conversation with several of the " line " who had 
gathered about him. They appeared to be divided in opinion 
about something ; for, as the Captain, who was apparently 
in command, gesticulated in an animated manner with head 
or hand toward the entrance of the stairway, as if he would 
go up himself if others would follow, some of those about 
him would point with equal emphasis toward the window, 
through the cracks and holes in the plain board shutters of 
which we were peering down upon them. It was some time 
before we could make out what was meant by their pointing 
toward the window. We felt certain they could not see us. 
We could occasionally hear above the whispered voices a 
muttering among the masks still in line, and several times 
heard distinctly the words '' by G— d," " d— n it," " h— 1," 
*' Spencers," " one," '* two," '' three," " half a dozen of um," 
&c. Finally, several of those in the "line" turned as though 
they would go away, and the commander yielded, gave the 
command " attention," *' shoulder arms," " right face," and 
then, uttering, altogether, a loud, deep groan, followed by 
curses, they marched away silently as they came. 

They had scarcely passed out of sight when we heard a 
gentle tap at our door. Surprised by this, we did not answer 
it directly. Then came another, accompanied with a low 
tone, ''Me, let me in." 

It was the shoemaker. The kukluxes had disturbed 
him, and he had arisen and peeped out, then seized his pistol 
and listened, while his wife slipped out the back way — to 
give the alarm to the " guard." 

While thus listening, the shoemaker had been able to 
satisfy himself that it was the rays of light coming through 
our shutters, which had warned the band that we were not 
asleep, and that fact had deterred them from their purpose. 



YAZOO ; OR, 

Shortly afterward there were at least a dozen of our stalwart 
friends on the back gallery, and in oar rooms, the greater 
part of whom remained all night. This was the last appear- 
ance of " the enemy " in disguise. 

When next he rode on his raids, he needed no disguise 
and marched in solid column, ^' nine hundred strong," armed 
with Winchester rifles, needle guns, double-barrelled shot-guns, 
and with ropes over the pummels of their saddles, and pistols, 
and knives in their belts-. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 247 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

SEQUELAE — RENEWAL OF AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE — GET OUT A 
HERE — SCRAPS FROM HISTORY — REVELATIONS. 

BUT I was yet to experience the sequel to that last visit of 
the kuklux. The General was out of town on some errand, 
and the only person present was Captain Bishop, a North- 
erner, who, seeing the way we were "just coining money '* 
with our mill on Tokeba, in the year 1867, had brought down 
a portable steam saw-mill, and set it to buzzing in the brake 
adjoining ours. He, too, had passed through such a series of 
trials as had nearly bankrupted him, and, as others had some- 
times done, had " come over " to lie on our bed, seek conso- 
lation from us, and minister to our craving for fellowship and 
intelligent sympathy. 

He had fallen asleep, when there came a rather sharp 
knocking at the door. On opening it, I was startled by the 
presence there, on our rear gallery, of several of the irrecon- 
cilables, headed by Dave Wool ridge and the " ex-sheriff" — 
he of my last dinner at the Blacks in the winter of '65-'66. 
In a bold, brusque manner those two leaders entered our 
room, the ex-sheriff slightly behind the " nigro." Where- 
upon the following dialogue took place between us : 

" Colonel Mawgin, you've been slandering the white peo- 
ple of this Azoo County long enough, and I'm y'here to ask 
you to take it back, and by — " 



248 YAZOO ; OR, 

Then the ex-sheriff — 

'' And ou' people — " 

At that instant the manner of my callers had become so 
threatening that it amounted to a violent assault, especially 
when, half advancing, Dave made a movement as though to 
draw the long sword from his heavy cane* while he stood as 
if about to spring upon me; the ex -sheriff keeping well up 
with him, while those upon the gallery huddled at the door- 
way. 

Taking in the situation at a glance, and without waiting 
for the ex-sheriff to finish his sentence, I sprang through the 
narrow doorway to the adjoining room — the sleeping apart- 
ment of the outcasts — seized a loaded navy revolver, and 
yelling to the sleeping Captain : '" Come on, Bishop !" lev- 
elled it cocked at the ex-sheriff and shouted : "■' Get out of 
here ! '' 

Meanwhile, the Captain, who had been somewhat dis- 
turbed by their entrance, though still but half awake, stood at 
my back with a Spencer, and they "got." We followed only 
to meet our old stalwart "guard" hurrying through the rear 
yard and up the back steps as the last one of the kukluxes 
hustled down the narrow passageway on to the street in 
front. 

Some explanation of the two last assaults upon our quarters 
may be desirable. We were still " consorting " with negros 
** from choice." The " desperate " element among the anti- 
reconstructionists — none of them having ever been regularly 
enrolled and in active service for the Confederate cause dur- 
ing the war — were still on a hunt for a " last ditch " in which 
to spill the "last drop" of their chivalric blood, "by G — d, 
sah." They were of the class who " lost all but honah, by 
G — d, sah, by the wah ! " and having " surrendered in good 
faith," were now as mad as March hares, because, by the 
election of that " butcher. Grant," payment for " that gal, Sal, 
by G — d, sir-r-r," had been relegated to some future new era, 

* lie usually carried about with him a heavy sword cane. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 249 

undefined and undefinable even in the horoscope of Yazooaus, 
and where the chances of a verdict in their favor were " mo' 
than likely to be mighty onsartin," should that era ever 
dawn. 

Their emissaries were in Washington, New York and 
all the great political and commercial centers, wringing their 
hands and shedding tears, figuratively, at the " probability " 
that the " barbarous nigros, inflamed by a desire for revenge," 
in the election of Grant, would find an " opportunity, " and 
possibly, too, a " cover " for a " rising," when they would 
*' kill all the white men, women and children, from the cradle 
up," and " marry their daughters." This " all-but-honah" 
crowd were constantly receiving " assurances" from their em- 
issaries, that, after all. Grant's election did not mean that the 
" nigros " would be allowed to do any such thing; that Re- 
publicans, no less than Democrats, had " no more love for the 
cisfcrer," when it came to that, than the " chivalrous South- 
ron," nor half so much; and, at the "first signal of distress 
from the South," the Yankees would be found to respond as 
promptly to their " cry for help," as in former times they 
had responded to their demand to help " catch a runaway." 
Therefore, " the first outbreak against the peace and quiet of 
society, that assumed the form of insurrection, would signal- 
ize the destruction of the negro's cherished hopes, and the 
ruin of the race " — or his return to the subjection of the white 
man, which was all the same; therefore, they would give 
Grant " a fair trial." 

As this may readily be taken as merely my opinion and 
not a statement of fact, I have thought I oui,ht not to venture 
it here. But there are at hand so many reasons for it, and 
such an array of documentary and other evidence going to 
prove its correctness, I have thought that by bringing for- 
ward authenticated records in connection with it. the reader 
might come to see, that, after all it is not my opinion, but 
rather a perfectly logical deduction from the attendant facts 
and circumstances, in which case I should ask to be relieved 
from a possible charge of presumption. 



250 YAZOO ; OB, 

" Executive Department, 

" Jackson, Miss., Decemher 9, 1867. 

" Whereas, communications have been received at this office from 
gentlemen of high official and social position in different portions of 
the State, expressing serious apprehensions that combinations and 
conspiracies are being formed among the blacks to seize the lands and 
establish farms, expecting and hoping that Congress will arrange a 
plan of division and distribution, but unless this is done by January 
next they will proceed to help themselves, and are determined to go to 
war and are confident that they will be victors in any conflict with the 
whites, and furnish names of persons and places; and 

"Whereas, similar communications have been received at head- 
quarters Fourth Military District, and referred to me for my action, 
and the co-operation of the civil authorities of the State with the 
United States military in suppressing violence and maintaining order 
and peace ; 

"Kow, therefore, I, Benjamin G-. Humphreys, Governor of Missis- 
sippi, do issue this, my proclamation, admonishing the black race, 
that if any such hopes or expectations are entertained you have been 
grossly deceived, and if any such combinations or conspiracies have 
been formed to carry into effect such purposes by lawless violence, I 
now warn you that you cannot succeed. 

" What is not known of your plans and conspiracies will be discov- 
ered and anticipated, and the first outbreak against the quiet and 
peace of society that assumes the form of insurrection will signalize 
the destruction of your cherished hopes and the ruin of your race." 

When the convention met in the following January, I 
asked for the appointment of a committee to inquire into 
the grounds of the Governor's apprehensions. Having had 
some experience in "■ nigro risings " I preferred not to serve 
upon the committee, and was excused. After several weeks 
of persistent etibrt to get at the true state of the case, that 
committee submitted the following report : 

[extract.] 

'' That they have taken every means in their power to inform them- 
selves upon the subject they have been called upon to investigate. 
They have made diligent inquiry of different delegates in this con- 
vention coming from all parts of the State, and at no place within the 
limits of this State, before, at the time, or since the issuing of said 
proclamation, were there any indications of insubordination, riot, in- 
surrection, or outbreak of any description whatever among that class 
of citizens referred to in said proclamation, but on the contrary a 
peaceable and orderly disposition worthy of the highest admiration 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 251 

has marked their conduct under the most trying circumstances, even 
where cruel wrongs liave been wickedly inflicted upon them. They 
have also made inquiry of many citizens of the State not connected 
with the convention, touching the charges above referred to and 
everywhere they find the colored man true and loyal to the country. 

"in conclusion your committee would beg leave to state that the al- 
leged causes for issuing said proclamation were so utterly without 
foundation that they are at a loss to find any reasonable excuse for so 
doing, and that the fears and ' serious apprehensions that combina- 
tions and conspiracies are being formed among the blacks to seize the 
lands and establish farms ' had their origin in the brains of evil-dis- 
posed ' gentlemen of high official and social positions ' in different 
portions of the State, and nowhere else." 

With their report the committee submitted the following' 
official correspondence. The first extract is from the response 
of Governor Humphrey's to an inquiry of the committee: 

" I presume you do not expect me to admit that the convention now 
in session in this city by virtue of the military bills passed by Con- 
gress, has any constitutional right to require me to account to it for 
my administration of the civil government of the State of Mississippi. 
I, however, acknowledge the constitutional right of all or any portion 
of the citizens of the State, in a peaceable manner, to assemble to- 
gether for their common good and apply to those vested with the 
powers of government for redress of grievances, or other proper pur- 
poses, by petition, address, or remonstrance, and the correlative duty 
of all civil officers to furnish them all the information in their pos- 
session that pertains to their welfare and happiness, when respectfully 
requested so to do. I have no secrets I desire to withhold from any 
class of our people, white or black. My proclamation of the 9th of 
December, 1867, was issued at the urgent request of General Ord, 
Commander of the Fourth Military District, and all the information 
I have on the subject you desire to investigate was received from and 
through him; except a few letters received from prominent citizens, 
which I referred to him as soon as received, and which, I presume, 
are now in his possession. For obvious reasons, then, I must refer 
the committee to him, and if in his judgment a revelation of the 
sources of information will not be an act of bad faith to the informers, 
white and black, and prejudicial to the public service, and he will au- 
thorize a publication of all communications, public and private, I 
will cheerfully comply with his instructions on that subject. 
" Very respectfully, 

" Benjamin G. Humphreys, 
'■'■Oovernor of If^'ssissippL 

" To A. Alderson, Chairman of Committee.^^ 



252 YAZOO ; OR, 

The following letters explain themselves : 

"Holly Springs, Miss., Fehritary 14, 186S. 
■" To A. Alderson, Chairman of CommitUe, MisisssiX'i^i Constitutional 
Convention. 
"Sir: I am iu receipt of a letter from Gen. A. C. Gillem's head- 
quarters, transmitting one from you, asking all the information I 
possess touching the facts that occasioned the issuing of that procla- 
mation (referring to a recent proclamation of the Governor of Missis- 
sippi upon the subject of illegal combinations, etc.) as far as consis- 
tent with my obligations to those from v/hom the communications 
were received. As I have turned over with the command of the 
Fourth Military District all the communications referred to, not 
even retaining copies, 1 have no means of furnishing 3^ou with the 
desired information. 

" I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" E. O. C. Ord, 
" Br. and BrvH Maj. Gen.'''' 

" Headquarters Fourth Military District, 
" Mississippi and Arkansas, 

" ViCKSP.URG, Miss., March 17, 1868. 
*'-Hon. A. Alderson, Chairman of Committee, Constitutional Convention 
for the State of Mississippi. 
" Sir : I am directed by the General commanding to acknowledge 
the receipt of your communication of the twenty-fourth ultimo, ask- 
ing to be furnished with any information in his possession upon which 
the proclamation of His Excellency the Governor, referred to by you, 
was based, and in reply thereto, to inform you that the General com" 
manding upon due consideration of the character of the reports made 
to his predecessor, General Ord, upon which the action was taken, 
■finding that they partake of a confidential nature ; also, with the 
regard to the considerable evils and little good that would seem to 
result from their publication, he decides that it would be incompati- 
ble witli his duty to comply with your request. 

' ' At the same time the General commanding desires to inform you 
that he never shared in the belief that insurrection was meditated by 
.any class of the inhabitants of this State. 

" I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"John Tyler, 
" Isi Lt., 43c? Inf., Brv't Maj., U. S. A., A. A. A. G." 
Now this was the same General Ord \vho had befriended 
our firm against Colonel Black and his allies. He was 
known during the reconstruction period as a faithful depart- 
ment commander. His sympathies have always been believed 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM, 255 

I bave understood, to be favorable to the Congressional 
plan of reconstruction. Yet, it would seem from the cor- 
respondence here quoted that he had either been deceived 
into entertaining a fear that the freedmen were, in fact, 
" about to rise," or had been tricked into a position where 
he was made to appear to have such fears. The evidence 
must have been very strong indeed to have aroused any 
such fears in the mind of General Ord, but at that time 
it was not at ail difficult to obtain any amount of "proofs 
that the freed people were about to " rise," etc., and, as Gen- 
eral Ord was comparatively a "new-comer," at least, had 
been but a very short while in command of that district, it 
is not improbable, in my views, that he was " taken in " in 
the same manner as more illustrious commanders before him 
had been. But now Grant was soon to " take his seat," as our 
friends termed the assumption of the robes of office, and " the 
enemy " wished to give him a " fair trial." 

To this end, as the negro would not " rise " on his own 
motion, they would assume that he was about to do so, 
hang or shoot his " white-ekinned leaders," and then when 
the poor, faithful, outraged colored people should come flock- 
ing to town to see what was the matter, or to " stand " by us 
if they died for it, those chivalrous Southrons could furnish 
the world with ample proof of the absolute correctness of their 
assumption, that the negro was indeed " about to rise," by 
raising the cry that they were coming in to burn the town, 
and then opening fire upon them, killing a half-dozen or more 
of them, and driving the remainder to the woods, where 
hunger would soon force them to return to their masters. 

Should the Federal power afterward fail to interfere — the 
State authorities were pledged in advance not to — both they 
and the freed people would be satisfied with their " trial " of 
Grant, and the master class would rally to his standard, as 
formerly they had done to "Andy" Johnson's. And, as after 
his " trials," Johnson came to be known in the South as Mr. 
Johnson, instead of "that tailor Andy Johnson," it is cer- 



254 YAZOO ; or, 

tain, Grant, in tbe case I have supposed, would have come to 
be known as "illustrious" President, rather than "that 
butcher " Grant. 

They would also by the same " trial" satisfy the freed peo- 
ple " that the United States military authorities of this dis- 
trict are not in sympathy with any emissaries, white or 
black," that urge you to w-ear Grant and Colfax badges in 
the face of Seymour and Blair badges worn by the ku- 
kluxes. 

Their plan failed only because Captain Telsub could not 
induce his cowardly followers to attack our quarters while we 
were awake. 

In the latter case the day following its occurrence the 
•ex-sheriif sent me word that I had mistaken the purpose of 
his visit, and he wished to call and explain. I replied that I 
would receive him should he come alone. He came trem- 
bling, as men with guilty consciences always do when they 
meet the man they have deeply wronged, and fear his ven- 
geance. I oftered him a chair and begged him not to 
■"mention the matter." But he insisted upon explaining that 
" white citizens have been hearing rumors for some days past 
that you all had a large quantity of arms stored up there under 
the nigro church, and we were appointed a committee to call 
upon you for an explanation of the matter. Knowing that 
you were a gentleman, as I certainly did, I told my neigh- 
bors when they came to talk to me about it that if they were 
there you had nothing to do with it, for I always believed 
you and the Captain meant well, and never did take sides 
with Colonel Black in his persecutions of you all, and I told 
my son ." 

But this was getting off the subject, and I brought him back 
thus — 

'' You had heard the arms were stored under the little 

church on the hill which we " But here he stopped me 

and resumed his " apology." 

But it was too tedious, and I bluntly asked him — 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 255 

" Why didn't you go aud look under the church yourselves ? 
This is not a church." 

'' Well, I suggested to them we ought to see you first, aud 
have you exonerate yourself from the charge." 

" Charge ! What had you heard that I had to do with 
it?" 

" Oh, well, you know, Colonel, we all look upon you and 
your hrother as the leaders of the nigros, and" 

" Ah ! I see, Mr. Fisher; let me tell you something. You 
all never take a step in politics, since the war at least, but 
you make a blunder* to start with. Let's you and me go 
together, now, to the little church on the hill which we helped 
to" 

''Ob, never mind; never mind that. I hope you don't 
think that I believe the tale. It was my desire to serve you, 
and clear your name before our people of the foul " 

" Come on, now, with me, Mr. Fisher, right now, and ex- 
onerate me afterward before your" 

He did not wait for me to finish my sentence, but at once 
took his hat and abruptly left. 

Now the truth is, this man was one of the "leading citi- 
zens," "best citizens" of Yazoo; member of the church 
and " devoted Christian," as I understood at the time. He 
came with his gang of desperadoes, shoving the negro in 
advance, in order that my "taking ofl^'" by assassination in 
broad day might be publicly explained as the act of '' old and 
faithful family servants," who, by striking at " the inciters of 
it," had "vindicated" their masters from the "slanders"! 
referred to by Dave, and, at the same time, had thwarted the 
plans of the negroes to kill all the whites and " seize " lands, 
marry their daughters, &c. 

They had seized upon the moment when they knew the 
General to be absent, and doubtless had not observed the 
entrance of Captain Bishop; or was it to enable them to learn 
the strength of the stronghold in weapons of defense ? 

* I ought to have said fraud. 

t The "slanders" were no doubt certain statements which Charles had been making 
in Washington. 



256 YAZOO; or, 

As in other similar instances, the " guard" got their warn- 
ing from a waiter in Dave's saloon, and had, as they had so 
often done before, " rushed to the rescue." 

I believed then, and have since been assured, by the indi- 
rect allusions of Dave's widow, and of those who were their 
confidants at the time, to these times, that Dave Woolridge 
himself knew who kept us posted and knowingly shielded 
the informer. Those of that kuklux band who still survive, 
should any there be, will doubt this statement. They had 
perfect confidence in Dave's loyalty to their cause. I do not 
Pnow that he was not loyal. I believe he was all the while a 
good, though secret, friend to the little Yankee garrison. 

In the case of another, who shall be nameless now, in whom 
they apparently had as perfect trust as in Mr. Woolridge, I 
do know; for his visit to the stronghold on a certain very dark 
night gave me the proof of his loyalty to our cause. 

Then such persons did not dare to let their " own color " 
know even their thoughts, fearing accidental or involuntarjr 
exposure. 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 257 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

ALL DOUBLED UP — CLEARING DITCHES — WAITING A VERDICT — A 
satrap's KNIFE — MAKING HAY — CHARLES GETS A PLUMB — A 
PATRIOTIC FOOL. 

BUT the incidents adverted to in the two last chapters, 
while certifying to the desperation and the cunning, also 
demonstrates the cowardice of the " last ditchers," who, for- 
getting their oft-repeated pledge to die in it, cleared that his- 
torical gully at one bound in their flight for the woods, upon 
the inauguration of President Grant, one of the first acts of 
whose administration was the appointment of Adelbert Ames,* 
who had been on duty in the State for some time, to succeed 
Alvin C. Gillem, Johnson's confidant, in the command of 
the district. 

This appointment was received by the kukluxes very 
much as they had received the news of Grant's election, only 
■** it doubled them all up." The only sign anywhere visible 
of resistance to his authority, was made by the governor, 
Benjamin G. Humphreys, and he resisted only to the point 
of drawing out a " show of force " in the form of two United 
States soldiers, with fixed bayonets, who, one morning, showed 
themselves at the capital, under command of one of the 
*' military satrup'sf underlings." Then he graciously "surren- 

* A lieutenant-colonel in the regular service, who had been, I believe, a major-gene- 
xal of volunteers. 
t General Ames at once made himself known to the K. K. K.'s as a satrap. 

17y 



258 YAZOO ; OR^ 

dered 'to overpowering force/ gave up the keys and muniments 
of office, and retired to his plantation and the bosom of his 
family — 'recognized' and 'unrecognized,' where he remained 
' under the shadow of a military despotism,' calmly biding^ 
the time when ' disenthralled,' 'redeemed,' Mississippi should 
be able to ' reassert herself/ and, pointing to the fact that ' our 
people ' had never ' voluntarily ' surrendered those ' constitu- 
tional rights reserved by the States/ had never •' voluntarily '' 
emancipated "■ our nigros/ had never ' voluntarily abdicated '' 
those offices to which the ' sovereign white ' people of the 
State had elevated them, declare, that the former ' having 
been' destroyed by the Yankees, and the latter having been 
accomplished ' by force/ the entire proceeding lacked the 
vitalizing power of constitutionality, and was, therefore, 'null 
and void,' and of ' no effect.' " 

Being so, and there being no grant of power in the Federal 
Constitution " to coerce a State," what shall hinder a restor- 
ation of the old order of things — for the protection of the- 
lands and the " lives of the white men, women and children,, 
from the cradle up ?''^ 

All the kukluxes of Yazoo at once imitated the exam- 
ple of their chief — the "human hornet" aud three others alone 
excepted — and peace reigned throughout the borders of Yazoo. 

The remnant of the little garrison now abandoned their 
old quarters. The General and his family began housekeep- 
ing, and I, by express invitation of Mrs. Blank, took board 
at the house of the lady whose home but little more than a 
year before had been converted into a " den of infamy " by 
the presence of my brother and the General. 

General Ames' knife cut deep, but the hand at the helm 
in Washington was as steady as Ames' surgery was courage- 
ous and skilful. 

Charles and Captain Clark were still at the national cap- 
ital. The new military commander who had heard of the 
little " Yankee garrison of Yazoo," tendered to^me the office 
of sheriff and tax collector of the county.* 

* Under the constitution an 1 laws then in force the sheriff was'cx-oflicio tax collector- 
of his county. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 259 

This I declined, somewhat to liis surprise, and when a rea- 
son was asked, I said : " I shall prefer to be in the legisla- 
ture, if I am to be in office, under the new regime." 

" The sheriff's office in Yazoo County, I am told, is worth 
in fees and commissions six to ten thousand per year — is it 
not so ?" 

" I believe it is." 

*' Your compensation as a member of the legislature is 
likely not to exceed a thousand per year." 

''True/' I replied. "But I do not wish office for the 
money there may be in it. Until the government to be set up 
in the stead of the old one^shall be established, I shall prefer 
to be in the legislature, where I think I may be able to do 
more good. 

From that moment this " satrap " became my steadfast 
friend. He asked me to suggest a name for the place, and 
also names for all the other offices to be filled in Yazoo 
County. I then suggested the name of F. P. Hillyard for 
sheriff. 

" Who is he ? " said this commanding general. 

"An old Unionist, and one who, though not very staunch, 
has nevertheless been friendly to our ' little garrison.' " 

" Was he a slaveholder?" 

" Yes." 

" Can you rely upon his loyalty to yourself and to our 
cause?" 

" Yes, I think I can." 

" Will not your brother wish to have it?" 

" No, I think not. The rebels are very much more bitter 
toward him than me. Besides, he wishes to resume business^ 
and I am sure neither of us wiir care to] make it a family 
aTair. Should I be nominated for the legislature he would 
prefer to have no office." 

" I think you're making a mistake, but if you request it I'll 
appoint Mr. Hillyard." 

I subsequently asked for it, and he was appointed. 



260 YAZOO ; OR, 

General F. E. Franklin was appointed probate judge of the 
county, a Unionist was appointed to the oifice of chancery 
clerk, only second in fees to the sheriff's office, and when they 
had all been filled, the Unionists — all natives or ex-slave- 
holders — held all the " offices of profit" in the county. 

Then the Northerners said — 

'' Morgan, you're a fool ! " and '■' the enemy " said — " fool!" 
and the ^' chairman of the County Democratic Committee/' 
said—'' fool ! " 

1 borrowed money enough to see me through, until after 
the forthcoming election, and began the cultivation of my 
new field. 

At this point, the general commanding asked me to ten- 
der to Charles, on his behalf, the office of sheriff and tax- 
collector for Washington County. That suited me, and I at 
once telegraphed my brother the fact, advising him to accept 
it. 

He accepted. 

Then I said, surely we may now have lasting peace in 
"Yazoo, and I began to dig deeper in my new field. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 261 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

THE OLD STUBBLE-GROUND OF SLAVERY — A LEAF FROM HISTORY 

'^OUT DAMNED SPOT," 

THIS, my new field of labor, was now, 1869, the old stub- 
ble-ground of slavery. For four years Andrew Johnson 
had been chief husbandman. His co-laborers in Mississippi 
were the " high-toned, honorable gentlemen" of tfc? " Central 
Democratic Association " of the State at large, and. their sub- 
alterns of the ku-klux-klan, among whom, in Yazoo, were 
Colonel Black, Judge Isam, Ben Wicks, Major Sweet, Harry 
Baltimore, Captain Telsub, the human hornet, Mr. Gosling, 
Sherifl" Finley, ex-Sherifi" Fisher, Uncle Ike, and Dave Wool- 
ridge. His "organs " were such newspapers as the Clarion, 
Mr. Barksdale's paper; the Vicksburg Times, the Mercury y 
and our Banner. His chief civil executive officer in the State 
was Governor Humphreys. His political policy found expres- 
sion in his letter to the first reconstruction Governor of the 
State, wherein he favored the " extension " of the suffrage, 
in order to " disarm the adversary," and it was amply illus- 
trated in the numerous "nigro insurrections " that followed, 
the cunning and '* statesmanship " of " we all," as displayed 
in their ability to appropriate the military power of the United 
States for the suppression of " risings " which were " about "' 
to occur, and in the resources of " our people," as shown by 
the facilities which they enjoyed for compelling the freed 



262 YAZOO; OR, 

people to " rise " whenever occasion required additional ex- 
pedients for convincing the Cabinet of their President, the 
*'jury " at the North, or for getting "^rid of them d — n Yan- 
kee vipers " hemmed up in that Yazoo stronghold. 

Up to this point in my narrative, my patient reader has 
followed me in a summary of individual experiences with our 
fellow-citizens in Yazoo. Here, upon the threshold of our 
new era, I shall ask them to follow me with equal patience 
through a summary of what the General and I, in our pursuit 
of a better knowledge of law, found upon the official records 
and between the lids of the statute books of Mississippi. It 
will embrace the thing which the conspiracy above described 
was, by the capture of Johnson, organized to protect, defend 
and perpetuate. I promise to be brief. 

I shall begin with the tax law, passed in 1865-'6. 

One of the provisions of that law allowed the land owner 
to assess himself — fix the taxable valuation of his lands for him- 
self.* Another fixed the rate of tax upon lands at one-tenth 
of one per cent, for '■'State purposes," while the rate upon all 
personal property was fixed at on^-gwar/er of one per cent.; 
and power was given to the county to fix the rate for " county 
purposes" upon the State levy as a basis, and not otherwise. 

Another provision laid so great a tax upon all '^privileges " 
that all freedmen were practically excluded from the trades 
and professions. 

Still another provided for a tax on each poll, and gave to 
county and municipal governments power to increase it 
practically without limit. 

These provisions resulted in such inequalities as the fol- 
lowing — 

All blacksmiths, bakers, butchers, brickmakers, carriage- 
makers, carpenters, dealers in timber, lumber, or shingles, 
printers, gunsmiths, saw-mills, shoemakers, tailors, tanners, 
watchmakers, painters, milliners, &c., were required to pay 
iiventy-fioe cents on every hundred dollars' worth — not of 

*0f course this was in obedience to the well-known assumption of chivalry, exclu- 
sively enjoyed by Southrons. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 263 

capital invested in business, but of the gross amount of their 
earnings, and that not upon an estimate made by themselves, 
but, in the words of the law, " upon their gross receipts.'^ 

* "The county of Warren, including the city of Vicksburg, is the 
wealthiest community in the State ; and we have taken some pains to 
•examine the tax-rolls of Warren County and to ascertain the practi- 
cal workings of the barbarous system here. The following are the 
cases of the three largest landholders in the county: 
Colonel Benson Blake and wife's total taxes on 8,506 acres of 
the best cotton land in the State, including a magnificent 
residence and the finest improvements in the county, all told 

is only $99 78 

Colonel Joseph E. Davis' total taxes on 3,793 acres of bottom 
land, fronting on the Mississippi River, including the Hur- 
ricane Plantation, which he lately sold for $50,000, all told... 141 14 
Heirs of General John A. Quitman, 6,810 acres of same sort 
of land, handsomely improved, including a plantation which 
was rented for $30,000 per annum the same year it was as- 
sessed—total taxes, all told 188 64 

Here M'e have 19,109 acres of the most valuable cotton lands in the 
world, including plantations the most highly improved of any in the 
South, with palatial residences and steam gins, worth at the very small 
average price of $20 per acre, $382,180, paying a total tax of only $439.56 

Mr. Charles Peine, on his livery stable, pays $671 03 

Messrs. Gray & Birchett, on their apothecary shop, pay 502 85 

Messrs. Herrick & Dirr, on their photograph gallery, pay 200 00 

Mr. B. Strieker, the butcher, pays 224 95 

Mr. Fred Lloyd, another butcher, pays 243 70 

Messrs. Kleinman «fc Beck, bricklayers, on their own work pay. 87 76 

Mr. Gerard Bedenhard, on his soda fountain, pays 115 88 

Mr. Phillip Gilbert, shoemaker, pays 75 28 

Mr. W. P. Crecy, on a salary of $1,200 per annum, clerk in Har- 

daways, with no property, pays 33 00 

Mr. Vetch, a barber, and no property but his soap, shears, and 

razors, pays 107 63 

Pompey Higgins, a colored drayman, on his dray and two 

mules, pays 33 82 

And last, though not least, the daily and weekly Herald, on 

their receipts, pay 185 20 

* The items here stated are taken verbatim from the political manual published in 1869 
"by Hon. J. S. Morris, of Missi-sippi, who was subseiiuently Attorney General of the 
State. They were, as I now recollect, first published in the Vicksburg L'Cjiiiblican.^ And 
•both the Republican and the manual were freely employed during the canvass of that 
year by Republican speakers throughout the State. I have never lieard the correctness 
of the statements questioned. They are absolutely correct, and can be easily veritled 
by any one who may doubt the fact. 



264 YAZOO OR, 

Daily and weekly !r/?nes 164 80 

While the weekly BepuUican (having no daily as yet) denounces 

the robbery under a tax last year of.... 103 00 

Our tax at the same rate for this year, owing to increase of 

business, would be not less than 200 00- 

These " irregularities " were equally great and equally 
oppressive of the poor in Yazoo County, and generally in the 
State, as in Warren, as I myself discovered by a personal in- 
spection of the records and by personal experience. 

But the greatest hardship was from the poll tax. In many 
instances in Yazoo City and County, freedmen, after work- 
ing hard in the cotton field, or in the shop, the entire year 
without other pay than food and clothes, except an occasional 
mite for spending money, were arrested, " tried " and con- 
demned for a failure to pay five dollars, sometimes ten dol- 
lars, upon their poll, and put at work in the chain gang, or 
sold, to satisfy the amount! Thus much upon the subject of 
taxation under the Johnson conspiracy. 

We also discovered that that conspiracy had enacted a code 
of laws, under and by virtue of which the freed people were 
denied the right to reside in an incorporated town without 
permission from the town authorities, to do " irregular or 
job work " without a license, to testify in court against a 
white man, to sit on grand or petit juries, to hold office, to 
vote, to bear arms, to own or acquire land, or to lease land 
or houses. 

That code further provided that freed people might be 
whipped by the court, or by the " master," " mistress," em- 
ployer, or overseer. 

Thus it will be seen that by law colored people were denied 
the right to rise, were by law kept in their places, were by 
law made subject to the property class, all of whom were 
white. Having done that why not go just a little further? 
So they went further, and in that same law expressly pro- 
vided that " freedmen, free negroes, and mulattoes'' might 
be put up on the auction block and sold — 

For non-payment of taxes; 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. ^ 265' 

For " running away; " 

For failing to have an employer or regular employment on 
or before the second Monday of January; 

For insulting " an employer,'"' master/^ mistress," '* over- 
seer," or any of their children; 

For ''costs; " 

For " damages; " 

For " insulting gestures largely or acts." 

They could be sold for " committing any misdemeanor, the 
"punishment of which is not specifically provided by law^ 

Such is the language of the statute. 

Nor yet is that all ; they were forbidden to inter-marrj/ witb 
any white person. If they did it was a •' felony," and pun- 
ishable by '' confinement in the penitentiary for life." 

They were forbidden to assemble together in any number 
greater than five, '^ at any place of public resort, or at any 
meeting-house or houses in the night, or at any school for 
teaching them reading and writing, either in the daytime or 
night." * The punishment for a violation of this provision 
was " thirty-nine lashes on the bare back." 

This code applied to white men in the following particu- 
lars only: If a white man married a negro or mulatto woman, 
he was liable to the same penalty as a freedman was for mar- 
rying a white woman. 

If a white person was found " unlawfully assembling," or 
''usually associating" with a freedman on terms of" equality;" 

* I have heard it denied that this was any part of those laws. But it was. The fol- 
lowing is a true copy : 

" Aktk'le 51. All meetings or assemblies of slaves, or free negroes or mulattoes mix- 
ing and associating with such slaves, above the number of five, including such free 
negroes and mulattoes, at any pi ice of public resort, or at any meeting-house or houses, 
in the night, or at any school for teaching them reading or writing, either in the day 
time or night, under whatsoever pretext, shall be deemed an unlawful assembly, and. 
any justice of the peace of the county or mayor or chief magistrate of any incorpo- 
rated town wherein such asssemblafjc shall be held, either from his own knowledge or 
on the information of others, may issue his warrant to the proper officer to enter tlie 
house where such unlawful assemblage or meeting may be for the purpose of appre- 
hending the oft'enders, dispersing the assemblage, and all slaves oll'ending shall be tried 
in the manner hereinafter provided for tlie trial of slaves, and on conviction shall be 
punished by not more than thirty-nine laslies on the bare back. 

" Provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent any master 
or employer of slave from giving them permission in writing to go any place whatever 
for the purpose of religions worship, provided such worship be conducted by a regu- 
larly ordained or licensed white minister, or attended by two discreet and respectable 
white persons appointed for that purpose by some regular church or religious society." 
Revised Code of 1857, page 247. 



266 YAZOO ; OR, 

I 

•or "sellinfij" or '^ending," or ^'giving" him food, shelter or 

raiment, •' when escaping from his master or mistress, or 

employer;" or for attempting to entice or persuade such a 

■one to leave his or her master or mistress, or employer, he 

was liable to a fine and imprisonment. 

If he was found '^attempting to persuade or entice such a 
■one to leave his or her master or mistress, or employer, to gO 
outside of the Staie,^^ the fine and imprisonment was much 
greater. 

In regulating the manner of making contracts with laborers, 
that code provided for their execution before any two respecta- 
ble and disinterested lohile witnesses. There was but very 
little time allowed the laborer for recreation, or for looking 
after a new home and employer; for during the period from 
Christmas day to the second Monday of January, his em- 
ployer would call in a couple of his neighbors to witness the 
new contracts, and all who refused to consent to the terms 
of such a contract as the employer himself wrote out, were 
threatened with arrest. If they still held out, and failed to 
"find an employer (of course this was likely to be in a com- 
munity where the white planters had a common interest), 
when the second Monday of January arrived, they were 
turned over to the neighborhood magistrate, fined, and as 
nine times out of ten they were unable to pay the fine, they 
were put up and sold. If unluckily the victim had money 
■enough to pay the fine, he was none the less a "vagrant," 
immediately afterward, and would be again arrested, tried, 
found guilty and again fined. Of course by that time he 
had learned the *' law," and either consented to the contract 
or allowed himself to be sold. 

And then this conspiracy by that " tailor Andy" Johnson's 
legislature, declared : 

" Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, That all the penal and crim'nal laws 
now in force in this State, defining offenses and prescribing the mode 
■of punishment for crimes and misdemeanors committed by slaves, 
free negroes or mulattoes be, and the same are hereby, re-enacted, and 
■declared to be in full force and effect against freedmen, free negroes 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 267 

and mulattoep, except so far as the mode aud manner of trial and 
punishment have been changed or altered by law. 

' Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, That if any freedman, free negro or 
mulatto, convicted of any of the misdemeanors provided against in 
this act, shall fail or refuse for the space of five days after conviction 
to pay the fine and costs imposed, such persons sball be hired out by 
the sheriff or other ofticers at public outcry, to any white person who 
•will pay said fine and all costs, and take such convict for the shortest 
time. 

"Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, That this act shall be in force and take 
•effect from and after its passage. 

"Approved, November 29, 1865." 

[Pamphlet Acts of 1865, page 165.] 

Under this law, men might not only be whipped by their 
•employers, they also might be branded. 

" You don't mean to say that under that code the laborer 
had no remedy at all ?" 

" I do." 

" Well, there was his old remedy left him, at all events; he 
•could run away." 

*' Yes, that's a fact, and it was indeed an old remedy. But 
the free State of Canada was a long way otf, and Fred. Doug- 
lass was still looked upon at the North as a person not fit to 
fiit at table with white folks, to sleep in the same hotel, or to 
ride in the white folks' car, with some few exceptions. At aU 
events, in Yazoo in 1865, 1866 and 1867, and up to the elec- 
tion of Grant, very few freedmeu availed themselves of that 
remedy." 

'' Then they deserved just the treatment they got." 

" Perhaps that is true, but let's see." 

In his inaugural address, October 16, 1865, Governor Hum- 
phreys, said : 

" The planter cannot venture upon the cultivation of the great sta- 
ple, unless the laborer is compelled to comply with his contract,* re- 
maining and performing his proper amount of labor, day after day, 
and week after week, tlirough the whole year; and if he attempts to 
escape, he should be returned to his employer and forced to work, 
luntil the time for which he has contracted has expired." 

*Made before ivhite witnesses, as I have heretofore described. 



268 Y^zoo; ok, 

Throughout that inaugural there was not one word upon 
the subject of compensation for all this forced labor. 

That inaugural was subsequently put into etiect in the shape 
of a law passed by these conspirators, which reads as follows: 

" Sec. 1 . Be it enacted hy the Legislature of the State of Mississippi., 
That all runaways or those who misspend lohat they earn shall be 
deemed and considered vagrants under the provisions of this act, and 
on conviction thereof shall be ' fined not exceeding one hundred dol- 
lars, with all accruing costs, and be imprisoned, at the discretion of 
the court, not exceeding ten days.' " 

This did not apply to whites. 

" But these laws were not constitutional, nor in any sense 
vahd." 

That may be true, and Congress so declared in effect 
when it passed the Civil Rights bill of April, 1866, that law 
for which it was arraigned as a "partisan, usurping" body at 
the ITorth, and as an '' unconstitutional" or '^ rump" Congress 
at the Soutb. 

But neither Governor Humphreys nor any of his coadju- 
tors in Mississippi were willing to concede that those laws 
were unconstitutional. They were, at least, perfectly willing 
that the question be left to the courts of Yazoo and of Mis- 
sissippi, for in his special message to the legislature of that 
State of October, 1866, that Governor said: 

" The civil rights bill passed by Congress* at its recent session con- 
flicts directly with many of our State laws, * * * and has been a 
fruitful source of disturbance. Immediately after your adjournment 
in December, 1865,t I appointed * * * commissioners to visit 
Washington, lay these laws before the President, and request him tO' 
indicate which of them the military authorities would be allowed to 
nullify. The President gave full assurances that none of them should 
be nullified except by the civil courts of the land." 

Therefore, in order to make sure that no freedman, woman, 
or child should " escape," that conspiracy passed a law mak- 
ing it the duty of " every civil officer " to arrest and " carry 
back to his legal employers " every escaping freedman, woman^ 

* Over Johnson's veto, remember. 

t This was the date of my Vicksburg fool's errai.d. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 269 

or child, and offered a reward to "everj person" who should 
do so in " the sum of five dollars and ten cents per mile from 
the place of arrest to the place of delivery." 

In this manner that conspiracy at once nullified that Civil 
Rights bill of Congress, and set up their own civil rights laws 
in its stead* 

Following is the full text of the Civil Rights bill of Con- 
gress, which was such a fruitful source of disturbance in 
Mississippi: 

" An Act to protect all persons in the U nited States in their civil 
rights, and furnish the means of their vindication. 

"-Be it enacted, etc.. That all persons born in the United States, and 
not subject to any foreign power, including Indians not taxed, are 
hereby declared to be citizens of the United States ; and such citizens 
of every race and color, without regard to any previous condition of 
slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, 
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the same 
right in every State and Territory in the United States to make and 
■enforce contracts ; to sue, be parties, and give evidence ; to inherit, 
purchase, lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property ; and 
to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security 
of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be 
subject to like punishment, pains and penalties, and to none other, 
any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 

" Sec. 2. That any person, who, under color of any law, statute, 
ordinance, regulation or custom, shall subject, or cause to be sub- 
jected, any inhabitant of any State or Territory to the deprivation of 
any right secured or protected by this act, or to different punish- 
ment, pains, or penalties, on account of such person having at any 
time been held in a condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, 
except as a punishment for crime, wliereof the party shall have been 
duly convicted, or by reason of his color or race, than is prescribed for 
the punishment of white persons, shall be deemed guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and on conviction shall be punished by fine not exceeding 
one hundred dollars, oi imprisonment not exceeding one year, or 
both in the discretion of the court." 

The truth is, this conspiracy under the guise of conferring 

civil rights upon the freed people, involved them in a more 

terrible servitude than that which "all agreed" had "been 

» For these laws, see Pamphlet Acts of the Legislature of Mississippi, 1865-'6 and '7, 
and the R. C. of 1857. 



270 YAZOO; OR, 

destroyed" by the war; for it exalted the white man above 
the position of owner, by taking away the responsibilities of 
Ownership. It took from the freed slave all the hopes which 
had come into his heart by Mr. Lincoln's proclamation, and 
left him to feed upon the live coals of his old master's quick- 
ened lust and greed. 

The only barrier to the strict enforcement of these provi- 
sions was the Freedman's Bureau, which during the greater 
part of the period from 1865 to 1869, in Mississippi, was pre- 
sided over by a military commander whose sympathies were 
known to be with the conspirators. Thus It came about that 
their enforcement was intercepted only in localities where 
the subaltern in the Bureau had greater influence at head- 
quarters in Washington than his superior, or clandestinely 
performed his duty when the dictates of a humanity com- 
mon throughout the civilized world, wrung from him a spasm 
of manly interference, or when General Grant or Gen. 0. 0. 
Howard, or heroic Mr. Stanton ventured to brave the wrath 
of the conspirators and of the whole Damocratic party of the 
nation, together with a large class of misguided Republicans 
who styled themselves " liberals," or as in most cases, " re- 
formers." 

In the county of Yazoo, under these provisions, men and 
women were cheated, swindled, robbed, whipped, hunted 
with blood-hounds, shot, killed ; nay, more, men were robbed 
of their wives, their children, their sweethearts ; fathers, 
brothers, sons, saw their mothers, wives, sisters, seduced, 
betrayed, raped, and, if Yazoo law aftbrded them any promise 
or hope of redress, Yazoo practice gave them no remedy 
whatever. The naked truth is, that the Congress of the 
United States took from that she-bear her cubs, and Andrew 
Johnson threw our lambs into the den. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 271 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



A BRIEF SUMMARY — ANTICIPATIONS. 

SUCH, then, was this old stubble-ground of slavery, grown^ 
rank in the cottonwood* planted by Andrew Johnson, 
while under the spell of that conspiracy. 

I bear upon the little finger of my left hand a scar received 
in my first eifort to whet a scythe. 1 had often seen one of 
the mowers cut a very pretty figure upon concluding his ef- 
forts to whet his scythe. At that instant when the last few 
rapid strokes of the stone at the point of the blade indicate 
that the left hand, which has patiently followed it all the 
way from the shank, may be released, he would seize the 
blade at the very tip by the same fingers which had steadied 
it upon its snath, standing upright, and by a dexterous twirl, 
cause the implement to describe a complete circle and come 
down flat upon its side to the ground with a ringing sound. 

I admired this feat, and had watched the performer until 
I believed I had learned the "trick" of it, and so ventured 
to test my skill. But the rebellious point caught hold of the 
outside of my little finger and shaved off the skin nearly its 
entire length. 

"I hope 3-ou'll learn from this lesson," said my father, 
" that scythes were not made for playthings." 

* In the cotton region neglected fields are liable to grow up in Cottonwood. When. 
the growth is rank it is often more difficult to clear the field of it than at the first 
clearing, because of the numerous roots which run near the surface and project innu- 
merable " knees" upward and out upon the ground. 



272 YAZOO; OR, 

I had learned to plow before I was fourteen, and well re. 
membered that it was a rule with father to plow deep in old 
ground. I had learned to sell calico, weigh sugar, buy wheat; 
settle cash, and keep accounts before I was sixteen, and never 
knew father to sell a yard of anything, knowingly, that would 
not *' wash " for goods that would; sand the sugar, or weigh 
ihe wheat in a hopper that had a false bottom, or upon scales 
with false weights; make false entries in cash-book, or defraud 
or oppress a debtor. 

Although my father was a just and a good man, and my 
mother the most patient, affectionate anddevoted woman that 
ever was, I had my faults, and knew them. I was not then, 
nor do I pretend to be perfect now. But of one thing I felt 
sure: what of ambition, lust, selfishness, or other evil I brought 
home from the war with me, after more than four years at 
the front, during the four subsequent years had all been 
l^urned out of me in the crucible of fire in which I had been 
tried. 

The Sabbath-school on the hill, in the little church we 
helped to build, was to me a sanctuary, our Yankee strong- 
hold, one of God's fortresses, and this new field a holy of 
holies in God's temple upon earth, into which I dared not 
Tenture with any other than robes of truth and righteousness. 

If I had gone to the war to suppress an unholy and wicked 
rebellion, and to free a portion of God's children from un- 
natural bonds, riveted by ungodly men, believing that the 
service was God's service, so now I felt myself to be God's 
servant in the work of clearing this old stubble-ground of 
slavery. As such, I felt bound by every obligation of duty, 
to stand erect in the face of error, to deliver my blows with 
intent to kill, and leave the result to God. 

Across the very threshold of this field lay the following 
fundamental axiom of " the enemy," to wit : 

" Experience has demonstrated that the white races are 
the superior, the colored the inferior;" and also its corollary 
in their system of political ethics, viz: '' Therefore it is God's 
will that the colored continue in subjection to the white races." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 273 

I had felt the full force of the effect of the enemy's attempt 
to re-establish ia Yazoo and in the State the policy which 
was the logical outcome of that barbarous assumption. The 
•consequences to me had been all the more disastrous because 
of Chiirles' assumption at the beginning of our life in the 
South, that the rebels had been conquered at the moment 
they were disarmed; whereas the fact was, as they all, from 
^' babes" to Colonel Black, persisted in maintaining, at all 
times and undor all circumstances, that they had only been 
overpowered. 

My experience had taught me, and theirs had convinced 
the General, Charles and Mr. Moss, and all the other North- 
•erners in Yazoo, not excepting the one who had surren- 
dered,* that Colonel Black and his allies were at all times 
able to demonstrate their right to voice the sentiments and 
the purposes of " we all " Southerners. At the same time, 
the physical endurance, industry, loyalty and trustful ap[>re- 
ciation of our hands; the political foresight of the mass of 
the freed people of the county, as exhibited in their desire to 
have a native white man on their ticket, especially in dis- 
criminating against the purely "Yankee ticket;" the courage 
^nd devotion of the *^ guard" of the stronghold; the frenzy 
for knowledge of the great mass, and the fideUty and patri- 
otism of all during those four years, had convinced me that 
the freed people of the county were the superiors of their 
former masters in physical strength, in manly courage, in 
political sagacity, and in love of country, and not inferior in 
any of the elements of good citizenship — general intelligence 
alone excepted. Therefore, applying my experience as a test, 
I was able to know that the conspiracy which hai doaiinated 
Tazoo up to that moment, was for evil, and only evil; and 
that , as the conspirators embraced the intelligent class, it fol- 
lowed that the only way of reaching the citadel of the 
enemy's power lay through the intellects of the conspirators. 
Their policy relative to labor had proceeded upon the 

*This man informed rae months before his surrender was finally accepted by the 
«nemy, that he liad fought on that line as long as he could afford to; the "reserves 
were too far in the rear." 

18y 



274 YAZOO; or, 

hypothesis that the most profitable laborer was the human 
machine, and they had rigidly excluded from them all knowl- 
edge except the merely mechanical art requisite to wield a 
hoe, or an ax, hold a plow or drive it, scrape cotton and 
pick it, wash potatoes and boil them, cut a steak and fry 
it, make a bed and — lie in it, or under it, according to the- 
whim, caprice or desire of the owner of the bed and machine; 
with whom to see and at the same time not to see was en- 
joined as a duty; to perform, male and female, without the 
responsibilities attaching to a participant in the intrigues of 
which the machine was a prime factor, the menial services 
of social assassins and scavengers. The multiform complex, 
ities of a government whose corner-stone was such a policy, 
required for their elucidation "men learned above their fel- 
lows " in all the arts that policy engendered, and the main- 
tenance of that policy required for these "learned men," a 
following apt in scenting, prompt in obeying and brutal in 
executing all the requirements of the chief conspirators, ac- 
cording to their splril. 

Of the total white population of the State in 1860, fifty- 
seven per cent, could neither read nor write, and thirty per 
cent, of this illiterat-e class were of that following. The 
sleuth-hounds o-f slavery, when that '' divine institution" was 
" destroyed," they became carrion crows and fattened on its 
carcass. Having been without the means to purchase a slave, 
now that the slaves had become freedmeu who could neither 
own nor lease lands, by taking advantage of their lighter com- 
plexions and of the "lien laws"* framed by their leaders,, 
they could hypothecate the crops they intended to plant for 
the supplies requisite to feed and clothe the labor required to 
make the crop, hire freedmen and compel them to do the work 
required from Janaary to Christmas, during the hours from 
dawn of day to darkness of night, of the entire period, refuse 
to pay or divide, and then walk over to the auction block 
and buy them in for another year as " runaways." 

* Those laws enabled the planter to give a lien on the crops he expected to raise. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 276 

It was thus the enemy became united in a common inter- 
est, common purpose, and a common destiny, and, having 
become adepts at disguise and cowards at heart, they became 
kukluxes standing guard over their sacred mysteries. Had 
the kuklux possessed less intelligence they could have ranked 
as barbarians. Being the intelligent class they were sav- 
ages. 

How to reach their intellects and convince them that intel- 
ligent laborers were more profitable in the long run than ig- 
norant ones became the question. Once convinced of this the 
doors of their citadel of power would fly open. The sword 
which hung over every approach to it could neither be scaled 
nor flanked. Political enginery would exhaust itself in efibr ts 
to that end. 

Christianity scorned any other weapon of attack than the 
sword of truth, and commanded its soldiery to strike home 
through shield and buckler to the bone and to the marrow in the 
bone. Such a soldiery needed no mask — would be skillfu 
would be courageous, and the victory would perch upon the 
banners of those having the better-tempered blades. 

Thus it came about that ours was the victory. And when 
at the close of the struggle we halted to take breath, looking 
about upon the field of battle, nothing remained of " the 
enemy's " defences but a foul stench. 



276 . YAZOO ; OR, 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

A'BOUT grant's "FAIR TRIAL" — ALSO OF CERTAIN EFFORTS TO 
CAPTURE THE "ILLUSTRIOUS" SOLDIER BY INVADINQ HIS FAMILY 
— A CHAPTER OF MISSISSIPPI STATE POLITICS — MR. BARKSDALE 
BECOMES A " NATIONAL REPUBLICAN " — HOW IT ALL ENDED. 

IN blank ignorance of the proceedings attending the forma- 
tion of that conspiracy, and of its purposes. Charles and 
1 had attended to our business on Tokeba and the maturing 
•of our plans for the future development of the foundation of 
'that empire which was to be wrought out of the great deltas 
•of that marvellous valley — one which by the grace of God 
;shall yet be. 

When at last we were wrecked and beaten upon by every 
•tempest from this seething political sea, thoughtful, patriotic 
'reader, is it to be wondered at that we seized upon the recon- 
•struction measures of Congress as ofi'ering a safe harbor for 
Tefuge ? that we put in there ? that we sought out the North 
iStar ? that we trusted to its calm, Steady rays, as the sea- 
'tossed mariner does to the faithful indices of the magnet ? 
:and that, gathering together such parts of the common wreck 
;a3 could be found there upon that old stubble-ground, we 
Ibound them together in one, and shoulder to shoulder with 
ithe brave and true of our heroic crew, withstood the tide aud 
ithe tempest ? 

It mattered nothino; to us whether thev were negro or mu- 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 27T 

latto, Northern or Southern, Irishman, Dutchman, Jew, rebels 
white, yellow, or red. Were they loyal now ? Were they 
true ? Could they weep over the crimes against their colored' 
fellow-citizens committed in the name of liberty, by this^ 
mottled tyrant and hybrid of slavery — that Mississippi con- 
spiracy — as bitter tears as over the spectacle of " a white lady 
cooking her own bread ? " 

Indeed and in truth this was a new field of labor. But 
there was a significance attached to the election of Grant to 
the Presidency which to us went further and meant much 
more than his personal triumph. It caused us to beheve that 
the heart of the nation was in sympathy with the garrison of 
that Yazoo stronghold. 

With me the " ball " had opened, I had passed the pre- 
monitory symptoms of the *' imminent deadly breach." For 
months I had worn the scoffs, the curses, and the blows of 
the enemy as if they formed a crown, and now this crown 
had blossomed into a laurel wreath. This gave me not only- 
faith in the future of Yazoo, it also gave m3 strength of pur- 
pose, of head, and of body, too. 

So long as the anti-reconstructionists had openly and from 
policy no less tha'i conviction, opposed the purpose of the 
nation toward their late slaves ; so long as the conspirators 
opposed all those principles which plainly had come to the top 
during the war, and by fidelity to which alone we had been 
able to win the victory over the cohorts of slavery, I had felt 
it to be my duty to treat the "disarmed " rebels as unworthy 
to lead in the work of laying the foundations of a free gov- 
ernment in that State. Therefore as a member of the com- 
mittee on "franchise," in our ''black-and-tan convention,"" 
I had favored a clause relating to the qualifications of voters 
and for holding office, which would exclude from the enjoy- 
ment of those privileges until the inhibition should be re- 
moved by Congress, and that removal should be concurred in 
by our State legislature, all those persons so excluded in the- 
amendments to the national Constitution. 



278 YAZOO; or, 

That class had beeu thus disfranchised by Congress because 
of their treason and rebelhon against the Union in the inter- 
est of slavery. 

The motive which actuated " we all of that black -and-tan 
convention " had a juster foundation still. It was grounded 
in our knowledge, obtained by sore trial and heroic sacrifice, 
that nine of every ten of that class were still determined to 
win by their ** superior sagacity and statesmanship" in the 
field of politics, what they had failed to accomplish upon 
the field of battle. We knew what we were doing. We 
were upon the ground. We were patriots, and not O'oophies, 
nor yet scalawags, nor even polecats. The consequences of 
our acta must fall upon our own heads. We could have pur- 
chased smiles, praise, even rich rewards in the shape of 
gifts from the enemy, had we been so craven as to be will- 
ing to treat with them. Not being so, we bared our heads to 
the pitiless storm. Some died under the terrors of it, others 
were shot, others hung, and at least one was burned. But 
now Grant was President. The knowledge of that fact lit- 
erally suppressed the enemy. At the same time, it filled the 
blood of every loyalist in Mississippi with iron. Each and 
every one, no matter how weak and halting he had previ- 
ously been, now became a reigning king, while the enemy 
groveled in the very dust. But yesterday they were defiant 
rebels. To-day they were repentant sinners, supplicating for 
mercy. 

The men who had garrisoned that Yazoo stronghold were 
not tyrants. They bore the enemy no malice. For one, so 
strong was my faith in the power of the nation to work out 
its will in the South, I felt warranted in taking my stand 
upon the side of mercy. I have never regretted the fact 
that I did, for it was also the side of good State policy. The 
disfranchised class were so few in number that there would 
never be danger of their outvoting us. By leaving them to 
pose before their following as martyrs to a sacred cause they 
could work more trouble for us, now that the Government 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 279 

was certain to be given into our hands, than if relieved of 
that interesting character, they could possibly do by mere 
force of their numbers or of their virtues. So I became an 
enthusiastic advocate of " universal amnesty." 

True it is, that the surrender of the enemy had been 
accompanied by many growls and vicious kicks, such as their 
efforts upon our stronghold before Grant had taken his seat 
and while Charles was in Washington. But this was while 
they still had Grant on " trial," and while they still hoped 
that his famous letter upon the condition of the South might 
more truly indicate the real state of his feelings and opinions 
toward the kukluxes than what they had termed his " unwar- 
ranted interference " with Mr. Johnson's purpose to make 
General Townsend Secretary of War in the place of Mr. 
Stanton, would seem to do. 

Congress had passed a resolution authorizing the district 
military commander to remove from office all disloyal per- 
sons in Mississippi, and to fill the vacancies thus created with 
loyal men. Now that Grant was soon to take his seat, the 
enemy had made up their minds that " Mississippi will surely 
be reconstructed, but upon what basis cannot now be definitely 
stated," as the Banner announced. But still, as the Bamier 
also further said, in the same issue, of that resolution of Con- 
gress, ^' it is for General Gillem to decide whether or not it 
is to be nugatory." 

Just how General Gillem was to go to work xo nullify the 

will of Congress, the Banner did not at that time venture to 
explain. 

Shortly afterward, and when General Grant bad been in- 
augurated and General Ames had been appointed to succeed 
General Gillem, the B.mner did venture to comment as fol- 
lows upon that fact: 

" Grant is as bad as we said he was. He has not cared a pinch of 
dirt for the ' fair trial' which many Democratic papers so generously 
gave him." 



280 YAZOO; OR, 

But now " we all" Republicans had an organ. In its first 
issue the Yazoo Republican, among other things, said: 

" We shall strive to forget the past, and, throwing our energies intO' 
the work, we shall endeavor to build up rather than destroy, and help' 
to advance the interests of all. And to this end we shall advocate, 
among other things, impartial suffrage as the means, under our system, 
to secure impartial justice. We shall advocate a system of free pub- 
lic schools. We shall advocate the reconstruction of the State upon 
the Congressional plan." 

But at this point, a little handful of Northern men in 
the State discovered that the Republican party had been ''too 
proscriptive," and lacked ''respectable leadership," and they 
very soon were known to be having lengthy consultations 
with members of that "Central Democratic Association.''^ 
Whether upon their own motion or by invitation of the 
Democratic Association, I am not able to say. It was said 
at the time, and it was well known, that Mr. Ethel Barks- 
dale, editor of the Clarion, was a chief counsellor and leader 
in this movement. It was also well known at the time that 
these very respectable Northern gentlemen professed to have 
"influence with Grant," and that they had succeeded in mak- 
ing Mr. Barksdale believe that they had such influence. 

As the time approached, therefore, for the election, when 
our new constitution would be again submitted to a vote of 
the people by the aid of those Northern gentlemen that Cen- 
tral Democratic Association discovered that, after all, the new 
constitution was good enough for them, if only certain 
" proscriptive clauses " could be eliminated. 

Whereupon, certain members of that association * met 
these very worthy and " highly respectable Republicans " 
in what was christened a " Conservative National Republi- 
can Convention." 

The result of their efforts to give to the " Republican party 
of the State a respectable leadership," was the following 
ticket: 

For Governor — Lewis Dent, " carpet-bagger,'^ and Presi- 
dent Grant's brother-in-law. 

* otherwise called conspirators, 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 281 

For Lieutenant-Governor — E. Jeffords, " carpet-bagger.^'' 
For Secretary of State — Tom Sinclair, an illiterate freed- 
man of Copiah County. 

For Auditor — A. W. Wills, -' carpet-bagger.''^ 
For Treasurer — Jos. McCloy, " cirpet-bagger.''^ 
For Attorney General — General Robert Lowry. 
For Saperintendent of E lucation — Thos. Gathright. 
It was said that their nominee for governor resided in 
Coahoma County, Mississippi ; but he was never a resident 
of the State, certainly not of that county, as the following 
certificate appears to show. It was distributed throughout 
the State during that campaign by the Republicans; I helped, 

of course: 

"Probate Clerk's Office, 
" Friar's Point, Miss., Sept. IS, 1869. 
"Mr. S. J. Ireland: 

" Sir: In answer to your inquiry as to whether Judge Lewis Dent is- 
a resident or property holder in Coahoma County, Mississippi, I have 
to say that he is not a resident of this county, nor does his name or 
that of his wife, or any other person by the name of Dent, appear on 
the tax-rolls of this county, either as a landholder or a poll-tax payer» 
" Very respectfully, 

" Geo. K. Alcorn, 
" Clerk of the Probate Court, Coahoma County, Mississippi.''^ 
[Seal of my office.] 

The only "high-toned, honorable gentleman " on the ticket 
was General Robert Lowry, an old citizen.* As their nom- 
inee for attorney-general, if elected, he would become the 
legal adviser of their government. The others, with only 
one exception, were all "new-comers" who, up to that time,, 
had been known and described as carpet-baggers. Another 
peculiar feature of the ticket was " Tom Sinclair," nominee 
for Secretary of State. It was openly claimed for this ticket 
that it would have the hearty sympathy and support of the 
"illustrious" soldier, President Grant. 

Our Republican convention met soon after, and it nomi- 
nated the following ticket : For Governor, James L. Alcor i; 
for Lieutenant Governor, R. C. Powers ; for Secretary of 
State, James Lynch, colored ; for State Auditor, H. Mus- 

* Present Governor of the !;(atc. 



282 YAZOO; or, 

grove ; for State Treasurer, W. 11. Vasser ; for Attorney 
Oeneral. Joshua S. Morris ; for Superintendent of Public 
Education, H. R. Pease. 

The following resolutions were adopted : 

" 1st. The Union first, last and forever. 

" 2d. Freedom of speech and of the press. 

"3d. Universal suffrage and universal amnesty. 

"4th. Free schools, presenting the benefit of education to every 
-child in the State. 

"5th. Opposition to that unequal and unjust system of taxation 
that discriminates against labor and bears unjustly upon the indus- 
trious class. 

"6th. Kevision of the code of laws of the State, so as to make it 
conform with the conditions of free labor, with a view especially to a 
more summary process for the recovery of debts. 

" 7th. Adherence to the 14th and 15th amendments to the Consti- 
tution of the United States. 

"8th. The exercise of the whole political influence of the St ite with 
Congress for the immediate removal, as provided, of all the disabil- 
ities imposed by the 13th and 14th amendments. 

" 9th. The ratification of the 15th amendment to the Constitution 
of the United States. 

" 10th. The new constitution of Mississippi, with the disfranchis- 
ing and proscription clauses left out." 

Our nominee for Governor was an old slaveholder — :one 
who had come into our camp. Mr. Vasser and Mr. Morris 
were also old citizens and slaveholders who had joined our 
side. Mr. Lynch was the most brilHant orator of his time in 
Mississippi. The others were " carpet-baggers." Along with 
those " proscriptive clauses," which the President decided to 
submit to a separate vote, was section 5 of article 12, that 
clause prohibiting the legislature of the State from loaning 
the State's credit. It was understood that the supporters of 
the Dent ticket had procured this action. 

But this appears to have been about all they succeeded in 
■doing in the way of influencing President Grant, although 
their candidate for Governor was his brother-in-law ; for 
while our convention was in session the commandinggeneral 
was invited to address it. General Ames replied as follows : 
" Gentlemen, you have my sympathy and you shall have 
any support." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 283 

It was not necessary that he should say more, yet, under 
the circumstances, he could hardly have said less, in justice 
to the President himself or to us. It was enough. 

From that moment the Dont ticket began to lose confi- 
•dence in itself; for, seeing that it had failed to capture 
President Grant, the conspirators themselves lost respect for it. 
Some of them made desperate efforts to rally their following 
to its support by openly proclaiming their purpose in nom- 
inating it. Among these was General William T. Martin, 
who made a speech, September 11th, 1869, to his Democratic 
friends at Natchez, in the course of which he said: 

* * * "It matters not how much objection we may have to the 
-Conservative Republican nominees, nor does it matter how odious the 
constitution may be to us, even as now submitted, I, for one, deem it 
expedient, in order to rid ourselves of Yankee-paid hireling oiflce- 
holders, Avho are enemies to our people, to support the Conservative 
Eepublicans and vote for this constitution with all its enormities,* at 
the same time voting against the particularly objectionable clauses as 
submitted to a separate vo' e. By doing so we get our own officers t in 
power, and secure the control of the State government, then we can 
fitrip this odious constitution of every objectionable feature, and we 
•can mould and form it to suit ourselves." 

I shall not comment on this "movement." It speaks for 

itself. 

*Did the General also object to section 22 of article 12? 

fLet the reaaer turn back to pages 280 and 281 and again see who they were who 
iwere thus styled "our own officers" and who were the persons to be controlled. 



284 YAZOO; or, 



CHAPTER XL. 

A GENERAL BREAK-UP — '' I TOLD YOU SO" — THE PRETTY PICKLE. 
OF THE ENEMY — DANGER SIGNALS. 

THUS much about State politics was necessary to give the 
reader au adequate idea of the situation in Yazoo. 

Our party in the county had met in convention, pronounced 
in favor of universal amnesty and also in favor of the reten- 
tion of section 5, article 12, of the constitution. It had 
also pronounced in favor of the " Alcorn ticket," as against 
the '' Dent ticket," and had nominated a full county ticket, 
nearly half of whom were native white men. 

The General and Captain Clark had been nominated for 
the State House of Representatives. I had been nominated 
for the State Senate. The convention also passed a resolu- 
tion highly commendatory of the action of President Grant 
and of General Ames. 

I was not altogether satisfied with our ticket. But it was 
the best we could do. Mr. Hillyard, our sheriff, and one 
other, were the only persons from the class known as ^' best 
citizens" whom we could induce, even with "■ fat offices," to 
come out on our platform, which was the State platform, 
heretofore quoted. Some insisted that Mr. Hillyard was 
never one of Yazoo's best citizens, that he was originally 
from the North, and, while it was true that he had been a 
slaveholder, he had owned no more than half a dozen or so,. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 285 

.and wa3 a " coramon sort of fellow." Now that he was ou 
our ticket he was in his true place — was a scalawag. 

The other was a preacher. He had been owner of quite a 
large " slave family." Parson Sivrup was a good man, they 
all agreed. But he could never be coaxed into saying right 
out in meeting that he was a Republican. He could say so 
very freely in private, though, and this was something to be 
thankful for. 

The other ticket was called Republican too. But then it 
was styled the "National Republican ticket/' except when it 
"was called " the Conservative ticket." In the North, no Re- 
publican could have taken the least exception to that name. 

With us it meant altogether more than its name implied. 
It signified that its following were Republicans, with a 
mental reservation; if they could at the same time be con- 
servatives. In Mississippi, conservatism meant opposition to 
change, and that meant opposition to any tampering with 
Yazoo laws and customs, or interference 'with Yazoo prac- 
tices; therefore, the conspirators become National Republicans. 
It sounded well at the North, and, in iMississippi it was, after 
all, but a name. And to cap the climax, even in Yazoo, 
they nominated a "^nigger" to go to the legislature and sit 
alongside "de white gen'leraens and make de laws;" as their 
candidate explained to his audiences. 

When that fact was announced to " we all," I could not 
help it, so I said — 

"There, old fellow, I told you so." 

"Told what? " inquired the General, for he had forgotten. 

" Do you not remember me tell*mg a company of Yankee 
planters on a certain occasion, that the Johnnies would prefer 
to vote for their old slaves rather'' — 

But now he remembered, and broke in on me thus — 

" That was two years ago; I shall never be surprised at any- 
thing they may do, now that I know them better." 

Their nominee for the State Senate was Major W. I). Gibbs. 
He came of a very ancient and very distinguished family. 



286 YAZOO ; or, 

He was a verj large planter, too, and supposed to be quite^ 
wealthy. The '' nigger " candidate had been this gentleman's 
slave — also the slave of his father before him. He was still 
living there on the same old home-place working " fur ole 
mars jez' 'e same 'ez b'fo' de wah, no diftern." His name 
was Reuben Pope. They called — everybody called him 
Reuben, except ole mars, who had always addressed him as- 
Rube — but neither in " slave time," nor since " freedom 
came for all," had Rube ever been half the trouble to Major 
Gibbs as now; for the Major had pledged himself to make 
a thorough canvass of the county, and having been provided 
with the necessary outfit, together these two, the Major and 
Ruben, (master and slave), traveled up and down through, 
the " swamp " country chiefly — for there were more freed- 
men in the swamp than in the hills — holding meetings on 
all the large plantations. Here is just where the Major 
made a mistake. He should have " sont " Reuben, As it 
was Reuben had waited on the Major so long that it had' 
become " second nature " to do so, and so could not help 
waiting on him now, nor could he help calling the Major 
"mastah." 

Ever since our stronghold experience, our party had car- 
ried a flag along for use at our meetings. In this canvass, the 
boys would have a drum and fife. Therefore, with " our 
band" and our flag, we were able to make a most attractive 
display. Seeing this and being determined to keep up with 
" them d — n Yankees " for at least once in their lives, the 
enemy undertook to get up a band too. Just here a new 
diificulty presented itself to the enemy. They could neither 
coax, buy nor drive the colored musicians to play for them. 
The white musicians at first '^swo' b'fo' God," they never 
would play for the " niggers." But some of them yielded 
after awhile, and a " sort of a band" was thus improvised. 
But they had no flag, and had to send abroad for one. At 
last they were ready and had everything arranged. But just 
here the Major made a fatal blunder. Instead of carrying 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 287 

the flag himself, or hiring a ^^ po' white "to do feo, he en- 
trusted it to Reuben. This was the way they traveled. The 
Major, with one of his chief supporters — very often it was 
Captain Telsub, or Major Sweet, or Ben Wicks — rode on 
ahead in their carriage. The band followed with Reuben and 
the flag in the " band wagon." 

This was too much. The patient, long-suflering freed peo- 
ple could not stand it any longer. So long as they had been 
content to take Reuben along with them and to allow him to 
assist in the care of their teams, to black their boots, and sa 
forth, the colored people had listened respectfully to them^ 
and also to Reuben when it came his turn to speak. They 
had even gone so far as to treat Reuben decently in a social 
way; would kill a chicken for him now and then, the same 
as for old master, and would always give him a place to sleep 
in. But Reuben, as standard-bearer for the Democrats, was 
too much. It broke the back of the Major's camel. Poor 
Reuben ! It soon got so that no one had any chickens for 
him, or any place for him to lay his head. The white folks 
couldn't — ^just couldn't have him in their beds, nor at their 
tables. Now they were in a pretty pickle. The Major and 
his friends could not understand what it was possessed " our 
nigros." Reuben was a negro like themselves, had been a 
slave, had been a preacher, and was known throughout the 
county. True, he had been a "so'r of driver" for the Major's 
father, but was always thought well of by his " own color" 
until now. What could it mean ? 

I could have told them, but they did not ask me. Indeed, 
they knew that I had no knowledge of the negro character. 
At the same time I knew that they had no knowledge of the 
free negro's character. They persisted that a " free nigger " 
was a much worse sort of an animal than a " slave nigger." 
I held that he was far better. Right there lay the gulf be- 
tween us, and there was great danger that it would grow 
still broader and deeper. 

Although Grant was President, and peace prevailed through- 



288 YAZOO ; OR, 

out the borders of Yazoo, during this memorable campaign 
the irreconcilables were still an element of discord, and on 
two occasions resorted to violence. They are worthy of a 
place here only because they illustrate the truth of what has 
gone before as respects the aggressive element in the ranks 
of the enemy. A few such '' National Eepublicans" as 
Henry Dixon, Harry Baltimore, Ben Wicks, Captain Telsub, 
and Major Sweet, were sure to be present at each place of 
registration, at all political meetings, and at the polls after- 
ward. 

"the first occurred at the place of registration. 

As usual, Charles, though no longer a resident of the 
•county, the General, and myself, were the target of the enemy, 
who taunted the freedmen with running after and supporting 
for office men who owned no real estate in the county. A 
blacksmith who owned no taxable property, being a freedman, 
ventured to respond to the taunt fi-om a certain Dr. Pom 
pons, by inquiring: 

"Doctor, 'whar yo' tax 'ceipt?'' 

Of course a " freedman, free negro or mulatto" had no right 
to ask such a question. It was a misdemeanor by law, for, 
if not insulting in terras, it was doubtless so in " gestures 
largeh, or acts," or " about" to become so. However, as the 
freedman had ventured he " was in for it," and stood up to 
it like a man, while his comrades began to gather close around 
him. They could anticipate the result, you see. 

Dr. Pompous was not prepared for this. Why should be 
be? He had never had just such an experience before, 
probably. 

But the doctor was equal to the emergency, and quickly 
an-d hotly exclaimed : 

" "Why, you d — d nigger ! Dare you insult me in that 
manner ' I'll teach you something, by G — d." 

There was, however, another surprise in store for him. 
The blacksmith stood his ground and squared himself with 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 289 

great double fists ior defense, as the doctor made a rush 
toward him. This so enraged the white man that he quite 
forgot the place and the occasion, and in great fury fairly 
leaped at the blacksmith. His passage, however, was barred 
by fully a dozen strong freedmen, who caught him some 
around the legs, some around his arms and body, while others 
pushed him back with their hands. Not a blow did they strike. 
Seeing the freedmen thus rally to the support of the black- 
smith, the doctor's white neighbors and friends rallied in his 
behalf, and some of them out with their pistols. 

.At this critical juncture the registrar (who, under the law, 
was a Federal peace officer) sprang between them, and seiz- 
ing the doctor ordered the freedmen to disperse. 

" Ordered the freedmen to disperse ! Well, what did he 
do to the whites? " 

" Nothing." 

" Nothing?" 

" Well it amounted to that. lie told them he was a Federal 
officer, sworn to keep the peace and to report all disturbances. 
lie hoped they would see the necessity of keeping peace, at 
all hazards." 

"Was that all?" 

" Yes." It had the eliect to keep the peace for the balance 
of the day. You see it was a concession by the officer, that 
the white man had been insulted, and a compliment to him 
for his forbearance in not shooting " the nigger" instead of 
attempting to whip him, which had the effect of bringing 
about the best of feeling among the whites, who now rallied 
the doctor for having been obliged to compare tax receipts 
with a "nigger " or fight. 

Tiiis was only understood bj those of the crowd who knew 
that the doctor had paid no taxes since the war, and that the 
blacksmith had paid each }ear a poll tax of five dollars, a 
street tax of five dollars and other taxes, amounting to five 
dollars more. 
19y 



290 YAZOO; OR, 

The registrar himself told me of this occurrence, and 
added that, though he was a Federal peace officer, had he acted 
upon the fact that the whites were the aggressors, it would ^ 
to them, have been only " another illustration of the terrible 
nature of the tyranny under which they were groaning,'* 
and as their blood was up, the result might have been a 
bloody riot. As it was, perfect peace and good feeling had 
been restored. 

The second one occurred at the hustings, and the reader 
will find the details of the incident as well as the result of it, 
in the succeeding chapter. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 291 



CHAPTER L. 

YAZOO STUMP ORATORY — CAMPAIGN ARGUMENTS — THE LOGIC OF 
EVENTS — A DEAD BULLDOZER — ONE TIME WHEN THE "NIG- 
GERS " DID NOT RUN. 

AS my reader has already inferred, " the enem} " hoped 
to conquer " our nigros " by dividing them, and they 
had been induced to put Reuben Pope upon their " Con- 
servative National Republican " ticket for the legislature 
with that object solely in view. In their political school, 
the end had always justified the means, and although 
Reuben was a very bitter pill, considering the end to 
be gained, they could swallow him. They could go fur- 
ther. Under the spell of their anticipations, they could 
wrap Reuben up in the grand old flag and swallow the whole 
bundle; for, after all, it was a dose that could in nowise 
take effect in any other quarter than upon " our nigros." 
Indeed they were merely to pretend to swallow it. It was 
the negroes who were to be cajoled by their sleight-of-hand 
into making a square meal off of Reuben and the old flag. 
Herein the enemy exhibited the same lack of correct knowl- 
edge of Ihe/ree negro's character as formerly they had done; 
for, while they reasoned that the freed people lacked dis- 
cernment to enable them to see the hand of Esau in this 
arrangement, the fact was that the colored people knew 
old master so well they were on the lookout for just such 
trit^ks. The only feature of this trick that appeared to sur- 



292 YAZOO ; OR, 

jirise ihtm iu tlie letist was the old flag sugar-coating. The 
*'h]ack i'olks" jbr so long had been witnesses of "old mars' " 
contempt for the flag, that it had not occurred to them as 
within the range of possible events that the "white folks" 
could so fur deceive themselves as to suppose for a moment 
that its use for such a purpose would be accepted by any one 
as evidence of real change of heart on the part of their for- 
mer masters. " Ole mars 'low nigger got no sense 'kase he 
ha' got no larnin'," Uncle Peter explained while "argufy- 
ing " that feature of the campaign with some equally shrew^d 
companions. And Uncle Peter was right; for the old flag 
had an opposite efl:ect from w-hat was intended. But the 
enemy were not dismayed. They still boldly claimed that 
Eube was gaining strength daily — making " the breach in the 
colored vote of the county wider anl wider every day," 
they said, and they weie boisterous iu their oflers to bet 
that he would be elected. At first this feature of the can- 
vass was not understood by any of us. Unkle Peter shook 
his head and vowed, '' Darz sholy sump'en g'wain ter drap 
sartin. Yo' jes' lis'en ter wharPz a telliu' 30' all. Dem 'ar 
white genl'menz has no mo' money ter trow 'way den we 
all po' niggers, min' dat, I'z a talken now. Unkle Peter iz. 
I tell yi' jes' you take car' yo'self. Dey is getten ready fur 
some mo' mischuf, day iz; I knows um; can't fool me if I 
iz a nigger and got no larnin'. I wor bornd wi' um, i w^uz." 

These sage observations of Uncle Peter were called forth 
by the annoanceniunit that the enemy had challenged me to a 
joint discussion of the issues of the day with Major Gibbs. 
Anticipating this challenge and also the line of the Major's 
argument, I had prepared myself with certain incontesta- 
ble documentary evidence: ammunition that tliere had as 
yet been no favorable opportunity for me to use, and I cheer- 
fully accepted the enemy's proposal for a series of mass 
meetings. 

The first of these was at Dover Cross-Roads, in the south- 
ern part of the county, and in the neighborhood of the 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 293 

Major's home The arrangement was for my opponent to 
lead off with an hour; I was to follow with an hour and a 
half, and he to close with a half hour. 

The audience was composed of about five hundred colored 
men, women, and children, and perhaps as many as forty or 
fifty whites asseral)led in the opon yard about the front of 
the cross-road white folks' church, from the front of which 
was our speaker's stand. 

There were not more than a half-dozen white Kepublicans 
present, most of whom were seated on the platform. All 
the white Democrats — " National Republicans " — were upon 
the outskirts of the crowd, save only the Major, who, of 
course, had a seat with me upon the platform. Of course 
there were no white ladies at all present. 

The Major began by saying : " My colored feller citizens 
and friends," and then addressed his remarks altogether to 
the '^feller citizens." His tone and manner were as gentle 
and persuasive as a t'lrtle-dove's, but notwithstanding that, 
before he was half through, con?iderable numbers of the col- 
ored folks had strayed ofi' to the woods near by or to the 
corner store over the way. As he had addressed himself 
altogether to the colored people I thought I might address 
my remarks to the white folks present, and so I did, for they 
were the sinners. 

The Major had the advantage of me from the start, for he 
was able to say that they all knew him, knew his family. 
He was no stranger. I could only say in reply to that part 
of his speech, that I had been for four years a resident of the 
county, and was already tolerably well known. I hoped they 
would know me better after awhile. 

The Major had said that he could appreciate their situation, 
their poverty, their distress. If only they, the colored peo- 
ple, would " far themselves away from their false leaders," 
and trust him, he not only could do, but truly would do a 
" heap mo' " for them than any stranger could. Replying 
to this I begged the white people to allow me to say that the 



294 YAZOO ; or, 

Major's ability to keep any promise he might make must 
wholly depend npon the purposes and the temper of his 
party, and without wearying them with a recital of what the 
Major's party had done for the colored people, I proposed to 
show them what it had done for the white people of the 
State. Among the acts of the Major's party which I recalled 
to their memory was the following : 

While under the control of the Major's party, the State 
legislature having chartered two banks, indorsed their bonds 
to the extent of several millions of dollars. These bonds the 
banks sold in Europe, and the proceeds they divided amongst 
their confederates in the swindle. Afterward the State 
repudiated its obligation as indorser, and left the creditors 
without any remedy at all. By this single act the Major's 
party had blotted out the name of the State from all the 
world's marts. 

Then I reminded them how they had never had free schools, 
nor but few of any kind ; how the efibrts of the nation to aid 
them in that direction by generous grants of land had been 
made abortive by converting the proceeds of those lands to 
private uses ; how, always, taxation had been laid upon the 
feebler industries, and only the great slave lords had shared in 
the benefits of the system. Only a very few years back this 
same party, under a dift'erent name, but the same party, had 
met together in a convention and passed the secession ordi- 
nance, refused to allow those whom they claimed to repre- 
sent to pass upon their work, and thus without any vote of 
the people, even the white people, had dragged the State 
headlong into a long and bitter war. To be sure that was 
when slavery was in the saddle. But though slavery was in 
the saddle, and, as the war progressed, it appeared to be 
also in the balance, at that moment when the scales were 
even, this same party, under a different name, of course, 
but the Major's party all the same, passed a law which 
expressly provided that all who owned as many as " twenty 
negroes " should be exempt from conscription, exempt from 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 295 

fighting for slavery, and then provided their conscript officers 
with blood hounds to be used in hunting down the poor whites 
who refused to be conscripted, and who ran away rather than 
fight for the protection of the slave-holder's right to own twenty 
or more negroes. At last, when they had failed to break 
up the Union by the secession road, they had retreated ba^k 
only to the very first " forks " and gone off pQll-mell upon 
another, which, in my opinion, led to the same end as the 
former, though, as I had never travelled either on§, of course 
I couldn't say positively, but would leave them to judge for 
themselves, and therefore I read from their own books 
the record of their proceedings and their acts. By these, 
I said, must the Major's party be judged. And judging 
from their record I would leave them to infer as to the 
Major's ability to carry out his promises, however sincere he 
himself might be. Then, without venturing to promise any- 
thing for myself, I begged them to consider whether it would 
be possible for me or for my party to do worse. 

The Major had declared that nobody but Yankees had 
prejudice against the freed people on account of their color. 
This, he insisted, was true, because even Fred. Douglass, '^ the 
greatest black man that ever lived, and the man who made 
the radical party," had only a few days before been refused 
a seat at the table in a hotel up North; "the same place 
where Colonel Morgan, their god, came from." More than 
that, he said, they even hung colored folk to lamp-posts up 
North; " there where Horace Greeley, the worst abolitionist 
that ever was, lived and pubhshed a newspaper; " even in 
Massachusetts, " where all the abolitionists came from " — a 
State represented in Congress by a man " who believed white 
men ought to marry nigros — the colored ladies;" even there 
there was " heap mo' prejudice and hard feelings against 
colored folks than in the South." For one, he had no preju- 
dice. '' No true Southerner had any prejudice against 
the color which God gave the nigros, and which they could 
no mo' help than they could tiy." They all knew his black 



296 YAZOO ; OR, 

mammy. Aunt Sal] J. Why! shehad suckled him, and Le loved 
her to that day as much as his own dear mother, almost.* 

I confessed my inability to make as satisfactory reply to 
this as I could wish. But, while it was true that Yankees 
were greatlj'' prejudiced against color, I believed that the 
fact was due in large part to the elJbrts of former slave- 
owners, who were interested in making the negroes appear 
to be naturally very offensive; to possess certain physical 
characteristics which were repugnant to the tastes of reiined, 
sensitive persons. Knowing that Yankees w^ere, as a class, 
that sort of people, the slave-owner had taken advantage of 
the fact to show that slavery was a sort of necessar}- evil by 
making the victim appear naturally so offensive in color, 
features and smell that they could not be tolerated in any 
other e^phere than one of menial service. They had, I re- 
gretted to say, been so far successful, that many Northerners 
had been ashamed even to admit that they were fighting for 
the freedom of the slave, whereas every one knew that they 
were. It was natural, I continued, that there should still 
remain much of this feeling in the North, for slavery had 
died very h-rd, if indeed it was yet quite dead. But, I 
said, the Major was hardly cons stent; for if it were true that 
Mr. Douglass made our party, it could hardly be that it was 
prejudice against color. 

However, it was well known that lirst impressions were 
most enduring. The old slave masters had always taught 
the Yankees that all negroes have and emit at all times a very 
foul oxlor. I presumed there were many Republicans who 
still believed that. The Major's story about Aunt Sally would 
hardly be believed in the North, not because infants were not 
put out to nurse there, but because it had always been repre- 
sented to Northerners, by those who were supposed to know 
the negro best, that all negroes?, women included, had a bad 
smell. Yankees had been taught another thing by the old 

* I have heard a great many native Southern men spaakin? to mixed assemblies of 
colored and white men, and have never yet listened to one who did not make the- 
same claim to kindly consideration by the blacks. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 297 

slave-owners. They had been taught that the negro's color 
was so tenacious, there was something in it so subtle that no 
matter how white one might become, through the bleaching 
process of the old slave system, they were certain to " breed 
back," as the saying was, and become in a few generations 
again as black as ever.* I feared greatly, I said, that these 
inventions of slave-owners, for the purpose of better securing 
their property, would some day return to plague the inventors. 
I denied that either charge was true, and appealed to the 
Major to sustain me, which he did. Therefore, I said, it was 
clear that Xorthern prejudice was due to lack of correct 
information and to the misrepresentations of slave-owners. 
Happily, all that was now passed, and 1 hoped the time was 
near at hand when there would be no prejudice anywhere 
against color. Indeed, we should have no prejudices. The 
Major had also said that the Yankees never would have gone 
to war but for the tariff ; that the Yankees wanted " we all 
Southerners " to pay them a bonus for making the machinery 
and goods which the South was compelled to have from the 
North. This the South had refused to do, and so the war 
came. 

" Now," said he, " they are paying these carpet-baggers to 
work on you all agin us," and he hud added threateningly, 
" It'll get yo' all into trouble, sho." 

In reply to this part of the Major's speech, I insisted 
that the tariff was not an issue of our can:ipaign. The only- 
question pertained to the reconstruction of the State. When 
this should be finally settled, and we had a free government 
in the State, we could discuss the tariff question. The Major 
had declared that there was no difference between our plat- 
forms. To this I replied that apparently there was not, but 
in truth there was. Their platform had not one word to say 
in denunciation of the great wrongs the Major's party had 
inflicted upon the poor by their wicked system of taxation ; 
not one word in condemnation of any part of the conduct of 

»Ta8 Major wiiic^'l unier thi-, fjr it ha I b^en s:ii<l that one of his ancestors was a 
black. 



298 YAZOO ; or, 

that party in the h)ng years of its controL True, the plat- 
form favored a system of free schools, bat my hearers must 
remember that this was the same party that only four years 
before had, in effect, by law prohibited the education of a 
large majority of the people of the State. 

In the course of his remarks, the Major had charged that 
while our candidate for governor had been a large slave- 
owner, and was known to have been one of the most cruel 
•slave masters in all the South, so cruel and inhuman that he 
had once punished a slave by castrating him, their candi- 
■date )cas General Grant's own dear hr other -in-law. 

To this I replied that while it was true that our candidate 
had been a very large owner of slave.^, he had long ago re- 
pented of that folly, and in proof of his sincerity had been 
for years standing squarely upon our platform, and that not 
only he but his former slaves and his neighbors all denied the 
■charges of inhumanity which were now, for the first time, 
brought against him. 

The Major had boastfully referred to the fact that they 
had a colored man on their ticket; a plain, honest, hard- 
working man, like themselves, and then, there was Reuben, 
Reuben Pope, on their county ticket. They had known 
Reuben — Mr. — Mr. Pope — it was difficult for the Major to say 
Mr. in that presence and in that connection, but he did — 
they had known Mr. Pope all their lives. 

(All his hearers knew Reuben Pope well, for the meeting 
was within but a very few miles of that candidate's home, 
which was still the Major's home. But it had been better 
for the Major, no doubt, had they not known Reuben. As 
it was, they knew him too well. Although he was also a 
preacher he had in some way not been able to make himself 
popular with the freed people, and now that he had come out 
openly on the side of the enemy his colored neighbors despised 
him. But Reuben Pope was a live fact. There he was, a pure 
African, so far as I could see, and the " high-toned, honora- 



ox THE PICKET LIXE OF FREEDOM. 2*j9 

l)le gentlemen of Yazoo " hud placed him upon their " National 
Republican " ticket alongside of a representative of one of 
the " oldest and most distinguished families in the county." 
He could neither read nor write, nor did he own any real 
€state.) 

Replying to this part of the Major's speech, I reminded 
the people of the fact that less than two years before the 
Major's party bad unanimously refused to vote at all, solely 
because the freed people had been allowed the same privilege. 
I presumed there were many in my audience who had heard 
iiiLUiy of the Major's party associates swear they would die 
before they would go to the polls and " vote with a nigger." 
My hearers must judge for themselves what had wrought so 
great a change in the temper and purposes of the Major's 
party. The Major had proudly declared that his party was 
in favor of the constitution I favored; that the only reason 
they had opposed it before was because it had disfranchised 
the white people, and he was glad to say that many of his 
colored friends had opposed it for that reason, and thus aided 
their white friends to defeat it. Now, that those disfranchis- 
ing clauses had been left out, everybody favored it. 

To this I replied that the so-called disfranchising clauses 
went no further than the Constitution and laws of the 
United States, and if it were true that the whites were 
disfranchised by the laws of the nation, how was it possible 
that those same disfranchised whites had been able to cast 
■enough votes to defeat the new constitution ? The fact was, 
I said, that only a year before the whites had refused to vote 
on the question of calling a convention to frame a free con- 
stitution, because, as they themselves declared, the colored 
people were allowed to vote too. 

When the convention had been called in spite of them, and 
by the aid of the votes of the freed people almost alone, and 
when that convention had performed its duty and the new 
constitution was submitted to the people, black and white, 
for their approval or rejection, finding that it was sure to be 



300 YAZOO; OK, 

approved unless they should vote, they had been able to get 
enough votes in the boxes against it to defeat it. My hearers 
knew by what means, and we need not open old sores by 
referring to them. Now, however, after only one year had 
passed, we found this same party not only willing to vote along- 
side of the colored people, but also to vote for one ; not only 
that, but actually favoring that constitution thej^ had all the 
while been denouncing as a " monstrosity," a " bundle of 
enormities;" not only that, they were now anxious to have 
for their governor the brother-in-law of the man they had 
unanimously all the while denounced as a butcher and as a 
tyrant, soteli/ because he was the relative of President Grant. 
My hearers must judge for themselves of the true character 
of the "conversion." I would not say it was not sincere. 
I hoped it Avas. But ordinarj- prudence suggested that we 
leave them on probation for at least a 3'ear or two. 

Comparing the two tickets as a whole, in proof that '• our 
people " — he was not willing to admit that the Southern men 
upon our ticket any longer belonged to that class — that " our 
people" had no objection to Northern men because they 
were Northerners, the Major had boasted that a majority of 
the men on their State ticket were from the North — " the 
same place yo' god, Mawgin, come from," and were ''just as 
good friends of the nig — of the colored people" as Colonel 
Morgan, and better, too. 

For a reply I said yes, that was true. I had never sup- 
posed for a moment that the Major's party had any more 
prejudice against Northerners than was wholesome and good 
for all concerned, provided the Northerners were shrewd 
enough to anticipate their wishes and willing to conform to 
their ways. The pity was that in this case their candidates 
had never been able to do this until after Grant became Pres- 
ident, and it was a further great pity that, having roundly 
abused those same candidates as Yankee-paid hirelings, they 
should never have discovered their mistake until after Grant 
became President and General Ames became military com. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 301 

jiiander. xMuch time— a Avhole year — and great expense, all 
the expenses of the Major's party of the year before, could 
have been saved, besides some lives and much bitterness of 
feeling, if the Major's party had only have nominated and 
supported this same ticket a year earher. 

During the Major's talk there had been but very infrequent 
manifestations of approval from the whites and none at all 
from the blacks ; but, although my remarks were argumenta- 
tive and dry, the colored portion of the audience had increased 
in numbers and were pressing close about the stand. 

Up to this time, while I had borne quite heavily upon the 
Major's party, I had made no attempt to reply to the more 
personal features of his speech. Indeed, it was quite difficult 
to make any reply to them. They were rather in the nature 
of innuendo then open reflection upon me, and I was some- 
what at a loss how to meet them. I could see that he was 
thoroughly understood by both white and black, and, as the 
custom of the country would never admit of my wholly 
ignoring his criticisms of me personally, it became my duty 
to make some allusion to them. Indeed, were I not to do so 
he would be sure to call attention to the fact in his closing 
remarks, when, by the terms ot our agreement as to order of 
speaking, there would be no chance for me to reply. He had 
been a little inconsistent in some of his statements. For 
example, he had said : '' These men ain't down here for no 
good ; just stirring up strife, and getting yo' all " (meaning 
the freed people) " into trouble. Yo'll see." 

lie had savagely denounced our legislative ticket because 
of the number of Yankees on it. At the same time he had 
warmly approved their State ticket for the same reason, and 
had even boasted that there were more Yankees ("old abolition- 
ists ") on their State ticket than on ours, and he had charged 
and had dwelt at considerable length upon the fact that I 
owned no real estate in the county, and could not, therefore, 
represent the property interests of the people, and he had 
appealed to the "colored people " to exhibit a wise discretion 



802 YAZOO ; OR,. 

on this first occasion of their "■ free exercise of the great 
privilege of voting for the officers of government," and 
prove their capacity by voting for old citizens, gentlemen whom 
they had known all their lives, and who, by reason of their 
being property owners, were identified with " the interests of 
the Soiith,^^ and would labor for the " welfare of we all." 

About the moment I began my reply to this part of the 
Major's speech, a young country white man, a stranger to 
me, who had climbed upon the stand in rear of me, touched 
my elbow and whispering into my ear, inquired — 

" Colonel, yo' got a pistol ? " 

" Yes," said I, for I had that morning provided myself with 
one. 

"Thar's g'wain to be trouble y'here to-day, Colonel, an* 
if yo'U gie it ter me I'll stan' by ye." 

" I thanked the young man for his kindly offer, but thought 
I could defend myself, and so informing him, I resumed my 
talk." 

As to the Major's references to myself, I declared that 
many of them knew when, where, how, and under what cir- 
cumstances I had come amongst them ; of our struggle with 
Colonel Black and his allies and so forth. At this point the 
Major interrupted me, to explain that he had never sympa- 
thized with Colonel Black and his friends in that matter. 
For one, he was in favor of welcoming Northern gerdlemev. 

" Yes," I replied, " the Major had privately assured me of 
that fact several times, for which I felt obliged, of course. 
But the fact remained, nevertheless, that, now that General 
Grant " — here the colored people gave a phout and the whites 
growled — " now that General Grant was President, the Major 
and his friends had gone all the way to Washington, and 
taken the General's brother-in-law to be their candidate for 
governor. He was a man who did not reside in the State, and 
the only ground he had for claiming citizenship was the fact that 
his wife, a Southern lady, had once owned a plantation in the 
State. While they were doing this, and while the}- were 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 303 

clamorous now for Northern immigratiou,they could not forget 
that General Greenleaf, Captain Clark, ray brother and myself, 
were carpet-baggers. Not only had it been impossible to in- 
duce one of their number to be a candidate on our ticket,, 
they were so bitterly hostile to it that they had put up a man 
against us who could neither read nor write, and were all going 
to vote for him simply and solely because he was a colored 
man, hoping thereby to be more certainly able to defeat us.'* 

Here the colored portion of the audience cheered, and some 
of them exclaimed : " That's right, Kunnel ! Now yo' is a 
talkin' the trooth ! Can't fool us dat er way nohow! "We 
noes Reuben Pope, ya, ha, ha ! " 

In other words, they had shown by their acts that a new- 
comer's status among them depended entirely upon his politi- 
cal preferences. If, being Northern born, he affiliated with 
them he might expect to be called a gentleman. But, if he 
stood up for Republican principles and the common rights of 
the colored people he was a carpet-bagger. Now, said I^ 
fellow-citizens, all, you must judge for yourselves as to the 
meaning of this so-called National Republican ticket. Look 
at it. Their State ticket is made up almost entirely of North- 
ern men and c.irpet-baggers, so called. Have they offered 
to put even one of that class upon their county ticket for the- 
legislature ? With the exception of Reuben Pope, they are- 
all'of the same political party that tried to take the State 
out of the Union, that passed the black code, and that have 
always been opposed to Republican principles. Now, said I,, 
the Major's party has done the same thing in nearly every 
other county, and that means that, should they be able to 
elect their county ticket,^ they will have so large a majority 
in the legislature that they will be able to work their will in 
spite of the Governor and all the other State officers, for the 
reason that those officers would be powerless with the legis- 
lature opposed to them. Then I challenged the iMajor to 
point out any such inconsistencies in the record of our party 
or in our present ticket. Whereupon some one of the vvUites 
exclaimed : 



304 ' YAZOO ; OR, 

" Yo' don't own no land." 

I had heard similar exclamations before during my talk, 
and was now prepared to answer it. 

'' Do all your candidates own land ?" 

It was as^reed that Reuben did not, and I suggested that 
there were four on their State ticket who were believed not 
to own any land in the State, and, besides, there were at 
least two on their county ticket wlio did not. I had under- 
stood, 1 said, ihat my opponent for the Senate owned none in 
the State or elsewhere. This was laughed at. I begged 
them not to laugh, for, without wishing to be personal, I 
thought I could prove that the Major owned not an acre of 
land. Then I brought out ray documents and read from the 
sworn statement of my opponent himself, made before a 
registrar in bankruptcy that the only property he owned or 
controlled was a horse, saddle and bridle, saddle-bags, double- 
barrelled shot-gun, and a navy Colt's revolver! 

This announcement, authenticated by the seal of the court, 
produced a decided sensation, for my opponent resided upon 
a large and valuable plantation, which, however, shortly 
before going into bankruptcy, by some '^ hocus pocus " had 
become the property of his wife; in name. 

1 might have added that Mr. Mix, the tailor at Yazoo City, 
had informed me that the Major obtained credit of him for 
an elegant suit of clothes only a short time before taking the 
benefit of the bankrupt act, and included the amount in his 
schedule of indebtedness tiled in that court, and had paid the 
bill by notice of his discharge by that court of all liability 
therefor. 

Shortly after the interruption by. the young countryman 
which I have mentioned, two men, strangersthen to me, came 
out from the little group of the enemy which had collected at 
the front of the corner store just over the way, bringing with 
ihem a half drunken-fellow — judging by his manner — of 
whom they let go as they approached the mass of freed men 
and women in front of me. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 305 

This half-drunken fellow elbowed his way violently through 
the mass, pushing along with himself what appeared to be 
a half-witted or half-drunken black man that had come into 
view from a quarter unknown to me, until he reached a 
point directly in front and below me. His approach had 
been so violent that it had greatly disturbed the people along 
his way, and, having reached the point indicated, he com- 
manded the negro to curse me. 
*'Tell 'im he's — hic-a-hic — liar; G — d d — n him." 
His tone was one of suppressed anger, and, though resolved 
not to allow it to interrupt me, he repeated it so often that 
the portion of the audience about him were greatly disturbed 
by it, and became somewhat indignant when in reply to a 
polite request of one of the leading colored men present that 
he should keep still, he exclaimed " You're a d — d lyin' s — 
of a b— " 

I had kept right on with my remarks, not regarding the 
olfender further than to keep watch of him, and of the group 
of the enem}' at the storefront, amongst whom were some 
guns. But the colored man who had addressed him, now 
joined by two or three others, made a motion as if to take 
hold of his arm. At that instant the bulldozer " whipped out 
a pistol" and tired at the colored man, who would have fallen 
to the ground had he not been caught by a comrade. 

Upon the instant I sprang from the platform amongst 
them, followed by two of the " white Unionists," and some 
from the group about the store rushed over toward us. 

There were as many as ten, perhaps thirty, shots fired, on 
both sides, and when the battle was over, the women and 
children, most of whom ran at the first discharge, came back 
on the grounds from out of the bushes near by and from 
down the road beyond, about the moment that the Major and 
I had reached a conclusion that it would be just as well that 
I should agree to not finish my speech there on that day, if 
he would not claim his right to close, and I promised to let 
it be known from our side that he had done all he could to 
" stop the row." 
20y 



306 YAZOO; OR, 

The only man killed was the bulldozer, who had not re- 
treated more than ten steps when he fell, and was dead before 
the battle was over. 

The man he had shot, however, became a crippte for life^, 
from the very bad wound just below the groin. 

Mr. Foote had received but a " slight scratch," a woman 
thought she had been hit, and I escaped without anything 
more than the smell of fire upon my clothes. I had merely 
stood my ground, and had not fired. It had ended almost a& 
soon as it began, and the " niggers " did not run, either. The 
news of the battle reached town before we could, notwith- 
standing we drove pretty rapidly, and passed over the base 
of Peak Tenariffe at least three hours earlier than Colonel 
Black and I had done on a former occasion, Mr. Barks- 
dale and certain other ''law-abiding citizens" had already 
held a hasty consultation, and recommended to the sheritf 
the employment of a large number of extra deputies to en- 
able him to put down the " insurrection already begun," 
p'edging him the aid of " every good Democrat" in the county 
to keep the enemy quiet, if only he would " protect them 
against the nigros," who, it was feared, having once tasted 
the sweets of self-preservation, would fly into all sorts of 
licenae unrestrained. 

The sheriti' to '' humor them," solemnly promised to protect 
them and the " white women and children from the cradle 
up," and swore in some few extra deputies to that end. 
But the " insurrection " ended where it began, with the bull- 
dozer, and our joint discussion ended also, and that was there- 
after the most peaceful, good-natured campaign ever held in 
the county, and the election the most quiet, orderly, and fair 
ever held before or since in Yazoo County. General Grant 
was President and General Ames was military governor 
then, and, though the vote was large, the new free constitu- 
tion was ratified unanimously, and the Republican ticket wa& 
elected by an overwhelming majority, and there was perfect 
peace in Yazoo. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 307 



CHAPTER LI. 

AN EXAMPLE OF " SUPERIAH STRATEGY" — A BRIEF RESUME 

THE LESSONS OF 1869 — HAPPY POLECATS. 

IN strict justice to that " National Republican party " of 
Yazoo I ought to add here that an effort was made to induce 
me to take sides with them in that canvass. The " chair- 
man of the Democratic White Man's party " of 1867 
and 1868 and Captain Telsub essayed the task, and I must 
confess they performed their duty in a most bungling man- 
ner. First came Captain Telsub, apologiziuiij for his past 
rough treatment of me, and explaining how it was all due to 
the ver}^ natural feelings of " we all," who had been '■ fo'ced 
to give up everything," etc. He hoped I would forgive and 
forget, and now that everything had been settled by the elec- 
tion of Grant, who, he believed, would, after all, make a 
good President for the South, there was no longer any reason 
for keeping up the old feelings. I begged the Captain not 
to worry himself about anything that had occurred in the 
past. I hoped he and all the rest of them had forgiven me 
my shortcomings as fully as I had theirs. This he assured 
me he believed was the case — that in fact I was much better 
thought of by the high-toned people of the county than I was 
or could be aware of under the circumstances. The fact was 
my brother and I had been misunderstood by " our people; '' 
there had been misunderstandings all around. But he would 
like me to have a talk with the chairman. 



308 YAZOO ; OR, 

I assured bim nothing would give me greater pleasure at 
that time. Thereupon, the Captain withdrew, and within ten 
minutes returned with the said chairman, who went over 
pretty much the same ground as the Captain had. I was glad 
to hear him express such sentiments, and so told him; adding 
that I looked upon it as a most happy augury of the future. 
Indeed, I had hoped that he would identify himself with our 
party. I said I thought it the true policy of all the better 
class of the white people. The Captain couched at this point, 
and the chairman turned red as he replied that it was impos- 
sible; for, while it was true that there was no longer any real 
difference in the platforms and policies of the two parties, 
yet " our people " had determined to support the " liberals " 
as presenting the better ticket, and — well, it was more accept- 
able to them ; therefore he should go with his people, and 
they were going to win, too, for Grant was sure to be their 
friend in the movement. He could not oppose his own 
brother-in-law; besides — well, they knew where Grant stood. 
They had assured the President that the election should be 
a peaceful one; that no one should be interfered with in his 
right to vote. The only obstacle he declared in the way of 
an overwhelming victory for their ticket was the '^ clannish- 
ness of the liigros," who, having got used to following a cer- 
tain set of leaders, would stick to them for fear of being put 
back into slavery if they did not. He wished to see that sort 
of thing broken up. Every good citizen should desire the 
same thing. The policy of his party, he frankly admitted, 
was to '' divide the nigro vote." They could not do that 
without the aid of those in whom they had for some unac- 
countable reason put their trust. There was not a man in the 
State who had the confidence of the negroes to a greater ex- 
tent than I, unless it was my brother. He and his associates 
bad been talking the matter over, and they had come to the 
conclusion that if 1 could be satisfied that they meant to keep 
their promises made to the negroes I could be induced to 
take the lea ling placj upon their ticket, and then there could 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 309 

be no doubt of the result. I could take my choice. My 
acceptance would satisfy the best citizens that I intended to 
become one of them, and, thereafter there would be nothing 
in the way of my achieving any place in society or politics, 
to which I might aspire, and everybody knew I bad a right 
to aspire for the highest. Then he stopped. 

The chairman's serious demeanor and the very grave 
countenance of Captain Telsub, together with my feelings 
as the chairman advanced in the unfolding of the object 
of their visit^ made the atmosphere of my room some- 
what oppressive, and I arose and opened the door^ which they 
had closed behind them on entering. This appeared to 
increase their embarrassment, and they both trembled with 
suppressed excitement during ray reply, at the close of which 
they walked out, but no farther than the length of the gal- 
lery, when they halted and for a moment consulted together. 
Then the Captain, with face larger and redder than ever, 
returned, and walking close up to me, said: " Morgan, you 
all have sacrificed everything here, in this county already. 
Yo' must know that ou' people never will submit to be gov- 
erned by niggers. Sooner or later you'll see that I'm right. 
K^ow ther's a chance faw j'o' to make youah peace with we 

all, and a stake, say $5,000 Besides" But the 

Captain did not wait to finish his sentence, and ever after- 
ward hung his head whenever he met me. 

We had all learned much that year, and all came to have 
a better knowledge of each other. 

First, the enemy found out where Grant stood. They 
had not been able to deceive him again, nor were they 
able to deceive General Ames, nor had they been able to 
deceive the "garrison" of the late " stronghold of Yazoo." 
The trick of the enemy deceived none but their own follow- 
ers, who, delighted at what they were quick to proclaim was 
a master stroke in diplomacy, were led to hold out "one cam- 
paign more." Of course it did not deceive the colored voters ; 
for, while the enemy with a smile that was '^ childlike and 



310 YAZOO ; OR, 

bland," held up Alcorn to be scorned bj them because he had 
been a " cruel slave-holder," and held up " General Grant's 
own dear brother-in-law " for then' Moses, the colored peo- 
ple hung their heads in very shame at the stupidity of their 
old masters, and grew more suspicious of them and conse- 
quently more " unreliable " for old masters' purpose, than 
before. 

The conspirators had failed to divide the colored vote, 
even though they nominated Judge Dent and a Yankee State 
ticket, and even though in counties like Yazoo, where the 
colored voters largely predominated, they had nominated at 
least one such man as Reuben for the legislature, and boldly 
declared that their ticket proved that they 'were just as good 
friends of the freed people as the Republicans were or" dared 
be." On that point they were answered by the colored men 
themselves, who everywhere and on every occasion retorted 
that they did not need to have any of their '' own color " on 
any ticket upon which I ran. This fact was in a measure 
illustrated by their poor Reuben, who lost standing not only 
with the brethren on the plantation, but with those on adjoin- 
ing places, and in the church. While in the canvass, not 
having been permitted to share any of the hospitalities ex- 
tended to the other candidates, and being heartily scorned by 
the family servants of those who entertained them, he had 
fared very badly indeed. But his party had provided him 
with an elegant new suit of clothes, fine silk hat and cane, 
and some pocket money, and allowed him to carry the flag. 
Toward the close of the race^ it was rumored that the Major 
had had him to eat at the same table with himself by way of 
resenting the jeers of the colored people, who had often 
asked Reuben if he intended to act as " ole marsa's body- 
servant" after he should " take his seat" in the legislature, 
as one of their law-makers. But all the devices of the en- 
emy had failed, and when at last the votes were counted, the 
result announced, and it was found that he had not been elected 
by a large majority, that his own party had "scratched" him. 



Q-S THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 311 

all Reuben's egotism, all his ambition to become a law-maker 
went out of him, and he returned with his "ole massa" to the 
old home, and afterward became a Republican. 

We had been able to penetrate the *' darkest holes " in the 
county, such as Sartartia, Deasouville and Dover, and had a 
Republican meeting on one of the plantations of Ben Wicks 
and that of Harry Baltimore, and bad carried the grand old 
flag wherever we went. The enemy had learned from us, 
too, as we have already seen; they, too, carried the grand old 
'flag about with them. We were content that they should. 
They had also seen icith their own eyes that the " freedman, free 
negro and mulatto," dared shoot to kill. But now it was all 
over and the victory was ours. Of course we were happy 
The enemy were disconsolate. 

At the beginning of the " Dent," "National Republican," 
^' Conservative," '' Liberal " movement the irreconcilables 
stoutly protested. They would not " stoop to beg votes of 
our nigros." Never ! They insisted that the freed people 
had no more constitutional right to vote now than they had 
the year before, and they were unwilling to accept the elec- 
tion of Grant as settling the question of their status in the 
Government. They were too straightforward and honorable 
to resort to a subterfuge for the purpose of deceiving them 
into voting for their candidates. They would treat them as 
they had always done. Any other policy, they said, would 
but open the door for still further concessions to " that usur- 
pation at Washington," and " end in the degradation and 
final subjection of the Caucasian to the African." They 
would " die first." But as the canvass progressed, they were 
gradually " whipped " into the ''National Republican " traces, 
and at the last, actually took their places in line with the 
negroea and waited their tarn to vote. What a picture ! To 
them it was "nauseating." To us it was fun. The character 
of that " movement " was exposed by the fact that the con- 
spirators took great care to place all responsibility of it upon 
the shoulders of the little handful of Northerners at its head, 



312 YAZOO; OR, 

and refused in any way to commit their own party, as an 
organization, to their platform of principles. 

But it afforded General Grant an opportunity to render 
" the South a great service," while at the same time helping 
a member of his own family into the United States Senate, 
which, it was understood, was to be Judge Dent's reward, 
and it could thereby be done without danger of subjecting 
the President to the criticism of his own party. The enemy 
hoped and confidently expected by the same trick to obtain 
a majority in the legislature, which after all was the seat of 
power. 

Once enthroned there, they would be at liberty to pursue 
their old means of fraud and intimidation without restraint. 
Should they fail to win Grant, they could make a " still hunt " 
for Republican votes and palm off upon the "freedmen, free 
negroes and mulattoes," their ravenous wolf for a gentle ewe 
lamb. If, thereby, they could succeed in electing a bare ma- 
jority and no more to the legislature, they would have an 
attorney-general upon whom they could rely for such con- 
struction of the new constitution as would protect them in 
any revolutionary proceeding they might see fit to adopt, and 
could " shape and mould " things to their liking. 

But it all failed, and again illustrated how little they knew 
of the character of President Grant, or the character or capac- 
ity of the free negro, and how low was their estimate of both^ 

It was a dernier ressort, to be sure, and fitly illustrated th^ 
desperation of the enemy. Now that it was all over, the 
irreconcilables only said, " I told you so," and resumed their 
former occupation of cursing the '• insolent, lazy, ungrateful 
nigros," and " bided their time." Hoping and believing that 
their nausea would be followed by symptoms indicating a 
change for the better, in the condition of the ''sick man" of 
Yazoo, almost believing that our remedy would drive out 
the taint in the blood of the patient, we all went to work in 
the now enlarged field, and were happy. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOxM. 313 



CHArTER LII. 

HARRY Baltimore's opinion of our first " nigger con- 
stable" — MORE straw for BRICKS — A CASE IN POINT — 
ADDITIONAL INDUCEMENTS TO A SOLID SOUTH — A TRUTHFUL 
PICTURE OF SOUTHERN DOMESTIC LIFE — A LINE THAT WAS 
NOT WIPED OUT AT APPOMATTOX, NOR EVER AFTERWARD, 

MR. FOOTE, early in the administration of General Ames, 
had been made a constable. One day one of Harry Bal- 
timore's hands came to town and lodged complaint with our 
Republican magistrate against that "high-toned, honorable 
gentleman/' for beating him, and for setting his dogs on him. 
The magistrate issued his warrant for the arrest of General 
Baltimore, and placed it in the hands of Mr. Foote for exe- 
cution. Now, the magistrate and General Baltimore were 
" white men." Foote was a negro — so called — but he executed 
that warrant with such courage and discretion, that, during 
his trial, General Harry Baltimore felt called upon to say, in 
open court, that while the magistrate was "ad — d thief," 
Mr. Foote was a high-toned, honorable gentleman ; for he 
could do no other way than '' try to execute the d — d war- 
rant." 

Mr. Foote had another experience that year. A young 
white man set out to ''teach him a lesson," but he learned 
one of Foote instead ; for Mr. Foote whipped him. This 
was 1869. 



314 YAZOO OR, 

We made great strides forward that year. Our varied 
contests with "the enemy" up to this time were likely to 
prove the best instructors. Some of the officers of election 
were young men who had been educated in the school taught 
in the little church we helped to build. 

One day while I sat in my office — no longer next door to 
the livery stable — revolving in my mind projects for the fur- 
ther improvement of the situation, there came a gentle, 
timid knock at the door, and I heard faint cries of a child 
accompanied by a mother's hush-sh-sh-h. Opening, there 
stood a comely black girl, with a babe in her arms. I bade 
her come in. She was neatly but wretchedly clad. There 
was only a faded wrap upon the infant. 

The mother's shy and expressive embarrassment while she 
tried vainly to soothe the babe, with her evident desire to say 
something to me, prompted the olier of a chair. This she 
took, with a surprised, grateful look and word of thanks. 

" What can I do for you ? " 

*' I comed y'here fur ter see de Kunnel — da lawyer. Beez 
\o' de gen'leman ?" 

" Yes; I am practising law — a little." 

But the child had not been hushed, and the mother, pale 
from her agitation — yes, black women can turn pale, so can 
they blush; I have seen both — arose, and, pacing the floor with 
the child at her breast, thus soothed it. This action failed to 
calm the woman, however; for, as she began her story in 
response to my req\iest, the hot tears came chasing each 
other down her cheeks to her breast, and the child drank 
them in with her milk. 

Now, gentle reader, don't turn away; this is a life picture 
— hardly that. T cannot paint it in true colors. I could not 
turn away from the subject, but sat and listened patiently to 
the whole sad tale as it came from the trembling lips, droop- 
ing, sorrow-stricken eyes and brow of this poor child of Our 
Father. There she was, not over twenty, in her faded hat 
and fe.Uher, patched calico gown and bare feet. Scarcely 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 315 

iliftering iu any special degree in form, figure or speech from 
thousands of others, there was, neverthless, something about 
her that won my profouudest respect. 

Though her skin was black it was smooth, beautiful in 
texture, and her forehead was high and. broad, while her 
eyes, large and soft, were very beautiful. Her teeth were 
two regular rows of genuine white pearls, and her neck and 
shoulders so delicate iu size and moulding, a reigning Eugenie 
would have envied her them. She was modest, bashful, and 
wore a simple, honest countenance. Her agitation ended 
with the story. 

Then I said — 

*' How long have you lived on his plantation ?" 

" I wor raised dab." 

" But have you worked for him all the time since the sur- 
render ?" 

" Yaas, sab ; in der feel.'" 

*' And he has never paid you anything ?" 

"\N"o, sah ; mo'n disy'here what I got on' an' some little 
things fur de chilluns." 

" How many children did you say you have by him ?" 

"Nebber got no mo' n jes dis y'here one an' tudder one 
yan with grannie by de quar'r." 

'' Can you prove that he is the father of both ?" 

*' Nebber had no sweetheart 'cept 'n him no how." 

" But how can you prove that ?" 

" Reckon da all 'low dat day is jes like 'ira. Missus she 

done said so, too." 

" Who is your mistress ?" 

'Olars own deah wife, I low." qi j^ 

'' Does she know all about it ?" ^^^-T^^ .^li 

" Yaas, indeed she do. She done tole 'ira otenter do me 

dat er way no how." 

" You say he beat you. How did he do it ?" 

" Done cut me with he rawhide, he did, an' he tuk an' put 

* In the cotton and cornfield. 



316 YAZOO; OR, 

all my things outen da road^ an' tele me nebber comed da 
no mo'. 

'•' Why did he do that ?" 

" I doan know." 

'' Had jou said or done nothing to make him angry with 
you ?'' 

Then she hung her head very low. 

" Come," I insisted, "if you wish me to take your case you 
must tell me all about it." 

" Wul — he done gone an tuck up wi' dat gal Sarah, what 
got no chilluns, and 'low he didn't 'ten ter see me no mo'." 

''Well, what did you do then ?" 

" Nuthin' — cepn' I went down dar whar Sarah wor an*" 
tole her" 

" What did you tell Sarah, my child ? Tell me all about it." 

" I jes' lowed she wor a nastj^mean 'ooman ter tell lies on 
me dat er way." 

" What did Sarah do then ?" 

" She hit mewi' a eah a cohn." 

" Then what did you do ?" 

*' I struck 'er back." 

" Then you had a fight, did you ?" 

" 'Specs hit wor." 

" Go back to the place and tell your master that if he don't 
pay you whatever may be justly due you, I'll bring suit for 
you against him for seduction." 

" Whor dat ?" 

" For adultery; you may also tell him that you'll have him 
arrested for beatingyou." 

" I done tole him dat afo." 

" Well, tell him you have seen me, and that I advis<^d you 
to do so, unless he will settle fairly with you." 

She never returned to me, remained on the place, and her 
children became pupils in our Sabbath-school, in the little 
church on the hill we helped to build. 

After every such occurrence I could not help taking a 
fresh survey of my field of labor. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 317 

Let US, I would say to myself, put ourselves in the negro's 
place. He is not a savage, however barbarous he may be. 
This is clear from the facts of bis history on this continent. 
Even as a slave his highest model of man was the noblest 
gentleman. Thisaspiration amounted to a passion. The slave's 
ambition was to have a real gentleman for a master, a real 
lady for a mistress, and he could discriminate with wonder- 
ful accuracy. 

The " savage is untamable," runs away from or tights 
" civilization " to the death. The negro runs toward, em- 
braces, clings to it, and prefers slavery to the savage state. 
His color was his badge of servitude. This he could change 
but in one way — miscegenation.* 

Throughout the world some form of caste has always ex- 
isted, but in no other country, nor in any other time was the 
line, however defined, restricted to the indefinable region 
lying between races. Biologists racked their brains for the 
data to enable them to set up a theory by which to set bounds 
to it in our country, and physiologists and lawyers lay heads 
together in solemn conclave in quest of such an exposition of 
their theories as would satisfy the quickened consciences of a 
" Christian public." 

From thence came rules, bearing the "great seals" of 
" sovereign States," called statutes, in arrogant defiance of 
God and of nature. 

These statutes created an arbitrary line between the ex- 
tremes of color, declaring what classes of persons should 
occupy one side of the line and who should " keep their 
places " upon the other side. These classes were termed the 
superior and the inferior. When slavery was " destroyed," 
the act no more wiped out that line than it changed the 
opinions of the slaveowners upon the origin of slavery. The 
divinity which had hedged about that institution also shielded 

* Referring tn this evil, one of Mississippi's most gifted writers and brilliant lawyers, 
u-'es the following language in a volume before me : "It" (slavery) "had still greater 
private evils, wliicli grew, and in the progress of years sent their poison deep down into 
the heart of domestic life, and produpcd, in thousands of instances, not only the most 
degrading social vices, but unfailing fountains of tears." 



318 YAZOO ; OR, 

the lines of caste, v/bich had been drawn in defense of it. So, 
when the superiors came together to frame a new code of 
laws for the State, they perpetuated all the rules which lay at 
the base of the old; for, as by the old slave codes, all per- 
sons of " African descent " were set over on the inferior 
side of the line, and called either " slaves, free negroes, or 
mulattoes," so now, slavery only '* having been " destroyed, 
the superiors graciously pasted a patch over the word "slaves,'' 
upon which they wrote "freedmen," and, thus altered, the 
new code read: '^ Acts to confer civil rights on frcedmen^ 
free negroes, and mulattoes." 

The more securely to guard and defend the prerogatives of 
their caste in this new code, the words " citizen " or " citi- 
zens," '• man " or " woman," " person " or " persons," as appli- 
cable to those upon the " inferior " side of the line, those of 
'•African descent" were expressly and purposely omitted. 
It was but another of the " ways of the country," another of 
the disguises of slavery ! 

Under the old slave codes, the line between the races 
varied according to the whim, caprice, or interest of the slave- 
owner. In Mississippi it was several times changed. The 
last change fixed it where it proved, as was no doubt intended,, 
most convenient for a large and by no means disreputable 
class of the best citizens of the State. It proved a great 
blessing, I am certain, to several of the most high-toned and 
honorable ladies and gentlemen of Yazoo. 

This was the law of suffrage as set forth in the State revised 
code of 1857, which recognized as a " white " every free- 
born male inhabitant twenty-one years old, who had any less 
than " one-fourth of negro blood."' 

All this class were permitted to vote, hold office, own lands^ 
houses, sue, be sued, and enjoy whatever position in the social 
circle their merits deserved, with or without property, or 
education. All others of the colored people were prohibited 
by State policy from, exercising any legal, political, or civil 
rights, and were chattels owned by individuals or by the State. 
In the latter case called "free negroes or mulattoes." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 319 

This rule afforded the uegro man and woman a too foree- 
fal temptation, and thousands yielded to it upon pressure 
from the " superior " race, which often was applied violently 
to compel acquiescence when glamour and bribes failed, and 
alas ! in thousands, ay tens of thousands of cases, justified 
to the negro, resort to those arts in amorous intrigue for 
which the constituent elements of African slaverj' on this 
continent afforded a field of unsurpassed fertility. For did 
not the church warp to its defense the inspired writings ? 
Did not the *' superior " rac^ everywhere, Sunday, Monday, 
every day, in winter and in summer, in times of jubilee and 
in seasons of sorrow, shield this river of evil with the mantle 
of Elijah ? and thus this " peculiar institution became an- 
other temple of Eleusinian mysteries, whose hallowed pre- 
cincts were never, at the peril of life, here ajid hereafter, to be 
profaned by any more of the light of reason. Every approach 
to its sacred portals was barricaded by a series of State and 
Federal legislative enactments and judicial decisions. Intol- 
erance stood with a drawn sword, forbidding education to 
the negro, or the publication, utterance, or dissemination of 
any skepticism upon the subject of the * divine origin ' of 
slavery."* 

'* O'er all there hung a shadow and a fear, 
A sense of mystery the spirit daunted, 

And said as plain as whisper in the ear, 
This place is haunted." 

Yes, this was the stubble-ground of slavery, grown rank in 
the planting of Andrew Johnson, while under the spell of " the 
enemy;" for under their new code, that Andrew Johnson 
code of :865-'66, that ^' black code" of the Mississippi 
conspirators, the line between the races was left precisely 
where it had been located by the slave code of 1857, and, 
during the four years succeeding the war, the evils which it 
had inflicted upon the State during its existence in slavery, 
were augmented. The practice of concubinage may have 

*Hon. J. S. Morris, Mississippi, iu his Political Manual, published 18C9. 



320 YAZOO ; OK, 

been more general in slave times, doubtless was ; for then a 
rebellions concubine was not permitted to run away. Then 
in addition to her personal attractions for her master, his sons, 
or guests, she was propert3^ 

If by reason of his relations with her, he recoiled from 
administering " proper punishment " with his own hand, he 
could send her to the local authorities, and, by paying the 
usual fee— one dollar— have the service performed for him. 
If the mistress, as sometimes happened, disapproved of her 
husband's relations with her servant, or of his selection, she 
could wreak vengeance on her rival by turning her over to 
the overseer, or sending her to the authorities to be whipped. 
In the case I have quoted, these ''good old time " methods 
could not be made to apply. Grant was President. The 
free constitution had been ratified, and the black code had 
become, thereby, a dead letter. 

This poor, down-trodden, oppressed and distressed " high- 
toned, honorable gentleman," really had no other remedy than 
the one he resorted to. 

Poor thing ! lie could not help himself, being a " white " 
and on the " superior " side of the line, " bohn and bred," 
and his victim being a " black." Therefoie, he " cut her a 
few licks " and bundled her, bag and baggage, almost naked, 
without a cent in payment of her years of toil and sacrifice 
for him and his, nor a morsel of food for herself and his chil- 
dren, into the highway. And when, after she had seen that 
''radical incendiary and miscegenationist Morgan," and come 
back to him with the law for her shield, no wonder he cursed 
"that black-and-tan convention;" that ^' radical rump Con- 
gress;" that "butcher Grant;" that " levelling monstrosity, 
miscalled a constitution ;" that " imp of radicalism, Mor- 
gan," bewailed " the degeneracy of the times," and took 
her back to his shelter, if not to his bosom. Alas, poor thing! 
The shield of the law protected him no longer. He was 
powerless to prevent or even resent it; for, was not the " heel 
of the tyrant " upon his neck, and his face to the ground ? 
Poor thing ! 



ON THflS PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 321 

Such inciclents7as this and others of a similar character, 
all having their rootjn the fundamental axiom of the enemy, 
had forewarned me of the real nature of the contest upon 
which we were entering. It was an evil that no constitution 
or form of government, however rigidly enforced, could 
cure. More virulent now than formerly, it was a pustule in 
the heart of the social order, which could not be reached by 
the courts. The instrumentalities of the law would but break 
the lancet of the best known legal remedial agents, in efforts 
to penetrate the fibre surrounding it; for who among '^ the 
•enemy " would dare to testify in court against a violator of 
any of the provisions of the new rules ? And should any 
of those upon the ^* inferior" side of the old rule dare do so 
it would have been seized upon by the whites as a sufficient 
indication of another ^' rising " of the negroes for the purpose 
of killing " all the white men, women and children from 
the cradle up." 

The evil, I foresaw, could be extirpated, if at all, in no 
other way than by example as well as by precept — by rearing 
a generation of colored women who could neither be purchased 
by the blandishments of a system which made household-pets 
of concubines and prostitutes, nor bulldozed into subjection 
to the libidinous demands of dissolute " masters, mistresses or 
employers," and by rearing a generation of colored men, whose 
manhood would as quickly resent all overtures for the posses- 
sion, for such evil practices, of their mothers, wives, sisters, 
and sweethearts, as would the manhood of the " best white 
man that ever lived." 

Already during the five years since the war, Mr. W. H. 
Foote, James Dixon, Houston Burrus, Frank Stewart, and 
scores more of Yazoo freedmen, were demanding the same 
courteous treatment on the streets, in the stores, and at their 
homes for their wives, as common decency exacted for other 
ladies from the public, the merchant and his clerks, or call- 
ers at their residences. 

At first this was met with contempt and often drew out 

2lY 



nn YAZOO ; OR, 

acts of greater license from those white men who had always 
acted upon the privilege which their color gave them under 
the old rule, to enter a negro's house without knocking and 
stand or sit with hat on, and, when evil nature prompted, to 
suggest an intrigue with wife, mother, sister or daughter. 
The old rule permitted a white man to pinch or put an arm 
around a colored woman while shopping, or openly invite an 
intrigue, or when she was on the street to stare at, make re- 
marks to or about her of an insulting character, or, as was- 
sometimes the case, openly invite an intrigue, and, when re- 
sented by the lady, press it by some coarse speech or action 

Mr. Foote was never known to allow his wife to be thus 
insulted without resenting it in such a manner as would for- 
ever deter the intruder from repeating it. He prided himself 
on the fact that he was a " Southern gentleman," and he 
acted upon the " Southern rule " of " an eye for an eye, and 
a tooth for a tooth" to the bitter end. 

How to cure this evil was then and remains to this day the 
unsettled '' Southern question." 

It remains unsettled because the American people, who 
have striven for so many years to comprehend and settle 
the " Mormon question " — a much lesser evil — have utterly 
ignored, if they have not been wholly ignorant of, its charac- 
ter and magnitude. I foresaw that it would shortly become 
the mainspring — hidden, of course, under a " nigro rising "^ 
as its mask — of future hostility to the workings of the new 
rule. 

All hostility to the agents at work in the planting of the 
provisions of that rule was repressed merely, not by the power 
of the rule nor of its agencies, nor yet of the great mass of 
freed people behind it, but by the respect which the rank and 
file of '• the enemy " had for the Federal power in the hands 
of a President who was in sympathy with a loyal Congress 
and the heart-beats of the American nation. It was repressed 
only as the appetite of the wolf is while the lambs are within 
the fold and the shepherd on guard is awake. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 323 

Mr. Foote, Frank Stewart, James Dixon — no relative of 
the " human hornet " — and many others of the Yazoo freed- 
men were not lambs, but the mass were. "Were they other- 
wise they had never been slaves. It was evident to me that 
Mr. Foote's policy would not cure the evil. It would, for a 
time, protect himself and his family from open insult so long 
as the dread of the Federal power remained a factor in 
repressing the instincts of the wolf, but not any longer. So 
I said then, so I say now, and so my patient reader will say 
when we shall separate. 

Surveying the entire field, my only hope was in the steady^ 
unswerving power from without. I trusted implicity in that 
power; for, had not the watchword been of our fathers, 
from the day when they threw overboard the tea in Boston 
Harbor, " Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty " ? 

Why should I doubt their fidelity to it ? Why should I 
question their love for or faith in our cause ? Why should I 
suspect them of faintheartedness now, of all times the most 
fructuous of happy results for the champions of universal 
liberty, a harvest season for mankind never yet equalled on 
the face of our modern earth ? I could not doubt, I did not 
question, 1 would not faint, and bent my head lower still 
under the heavy yoke, while I set my plow for deeper and 
still deeper furrows in my new field. 



324 YAZOO; or, 



CHAPTER LIII. 

TIDINGS FROM CHARLES — SIGNS OF A NEW CROP OF IVIEN AND 
WOMEN IN YAZOO — REVOLUTIONS — WHAT IS TO BECOME OF 
'^ WE ALL NOW THAT NIGROS CAN PURCHASE LAND " — MORE 
STRAW FOR BRICKS — THE WAY TO YAZOO '^ UPPER CRUST " — 
NOW THAT GRANT IS PRESIDENT, RARETY " KICKS AGAINST THE 
pricks" — TIME TO TAKE A WIFE. 

CHARLES wrote me from Washington County of their 
complete victory there. He had been most heartily wel- 
comed by " the best citizens " His only enemies were among 
Northerners, the freed people, and a few '' irreconcilables." 
The season had been a good one. The crop was even larger 
than the year preceding, and, better than all, the freed peo- 
ple were nearly all getting about a fair share lor making it. 
The year before they had purchased new clothing, new beds 
and blankets, new cooking utensils, etc.; horses and mules, 
and some shot-guns for hunting purposes. This year they 

were beginning to buy land ! It all made things lively 

in Yazoo City. The number of small traders was rapidly 
increasing. Theretofore, a half hundred men had owned 
the bulk of cultivated land in the county, and furnished 
their laborers, as well as their plantations, by orders on their 
factors in New Orleans, or at one or the other of three houses 
in Yazoo City, of which Mr. Barksdale's was chief. Now, 
however, the laborers were making their own purchases, and 
they sought for the cheapest dealers. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 325 

Thus it came about that the business and commercial fabric 
was undergoing a reconstruction no less in its farreachiug 
consequences than that worked out in "politics." All was 
transition, change, and the intelligent, cultivated young men, 
as well as their elders, looked out upon a future they were not 
competent to penetrate any distance at all, for their eyes had 
been trained in other and wholly diflerent glasses than those 
required for the purpose. 

Some of these young white men had alread}' emigrated to 
Texas, or to the ISTorth, where they were always heartily 
welcomed, and others were preparing to follow them. There 
were others who, having brave hearts and strong hands, 
" felt a working " within themselves to dare the future, what- 
ever it might have in store, and went to work. But there 
were others who "just could not work." It was '' degrad- 
ing." One of these, the son of an eminent physician, a 
young gentleman of twenty or twenty-one, who had been 
carefully trained and educated, mainly in Northern schools 
of learning, while one day standing upon the corner of Main 
street and the Benton plank road, with a Northerner, who 
soon after related the incident to me, somewhat excitedly 
exclaimed to him : 

" See there, Dick ! See that nigro there on top that load 
a' cotton ?" 

" Dick " saw a rather aged freedman seated on top of a 
wagon, upon which there were six or eight large bales of 
cotton. He also saw that the wagon was new (it was from 
Yankee land), that there were six or eight mules in the team, 
that it was an extra fine team, that the freedman was driv- 
ing it, and that he appeared to know what he was about, and 
so he replied : 
" Yes, I see it; what of it ? " 

" Well, sir, by G — d, Dick, would you believe me ' That 
nigro owns that turnout, cotton and all." 

" Well, what of that ? I expect he made it himself, 
didn't he ?" 



326 YAZOO ; OR, 

" Reckon he did, of course ; but then, what are we all 
coming to ? At that rate, d — d if they don't own the whole 
country, sho'tly, now that they can buy land ! " 

Many of the old men evidently looked as far into the 
future as this youug man, and no farther ; and they "couldn't 
understand it at all." One thing was certain, if that state 
of things should continue many years, the " African" would 
own the country. The only thing to prevent it, would be a 
fair competition with him for the right to own it. 

This meant honest efibrt, manly labor on the part of the 
white man. 

"Would the white man prove himself to be the equal of 
the negro ? It was an interesting question to me. It 
was an entertaining one, also ; for, to " own this whole 
country " meant to own a country surpassing the valley of the 
Nile in extent and in richness. It was a question I delighted 
to study, and I felt grateful for the prospect that I was to 
be a participant in the race, and a sharer in the harvest. 

The evidences before me satisfied me that it would not 
be a bad thing after all, in the progress of it, that I had the 
aliection, nay, the love, of almost every negro man, woman, and 
child within the borders of Yazoo, several of whom had 
already named their male babies *' Colonel Morgan." 

There were two "old established, reliable, and respectable 
journals," both weeklies, published in Yazoo Count}', both at 
Yazoo City. One, The Democrat, was the organ of the 
irreconcilables. The other, The Banner, was the organ of 
the " Conservatives," most of whom bad been old line Whigs. 
Its proprietor, a widow lady, and its editor, had been known 
as staunch Unionists before the war. 

Since the war they had been altogether "too respectable " 
to admit of "such a disreputable thing" as the trailino; of 
their banner in the " cesspools of radical reconstruction," and 
though moderate in tone, had been the most implacable 
enemies of the " whole radical scheme " for " tyrannizhig the 
South into submission " to "the decrees of a rump Congress." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 327 

Our Yazoo Republican was, of course, a " carpet-bagger," 
possibly a '* O'oophie" (dog), possibly a polecat." It repre- 
sented "we all" Republicans, and favored the early construction 
of a railroad to Yazoo City. 

Now tbat peace had come again, and we were in places of 
power; now that the curses, contempt and blows of " the 
enemy " bad changed to smiles and caresses, young " white 
gentlemen " of Yazoo of my own age, and even older persons, 
acted as though they would like to be friendly and sociable, 
if only I would be complaisant. But so many had ways I 
could not tolerate — ways that were abhorrent to my notions 
of good breeding — I did not fencourage these advances. I 
was no anchorite, either. During our bachelor life in Yazoo 
there had always been a very few " white gentlemen " and 
two or three white ladies who would recognize me on the 
street. But I felt myself so wholly ostracized that now, when 
all was changing, it was an extremely embarrassing subject 
for me; and I have no doubt, was equally so to "the enemy." 

Our new "radical sheriff" was the first under the new 
■regime to receive any sort of recognition from Yazoo City 
■" society." 

His family began to " elevate " themselves accordingly, for 
so it is, I am told, the wide world over. Then, how would 
I manage it should I come face to face at an entertainment 
of any kind where the "human hornet," Harry Baltimore, 
Ben Wicks, Bob Sweet, Joe Telsub, or any of the " Cyclopes" 
were the hosts or even guests. Our new sherilf, having kept 
himself and family out of active participation in the former 
contests, was less "' objectionable," a less embarrassing sub- 
ject, though he often complained to me of the outrageous 
slights, even insults, put upon himself and family because he 
had taken office of the radicals. Plis wife was a proud, 
haughty woman, and felt these things most keenly. The 
JSTortherner wiio had '' surrendered" failed to cut the knot by 
marrying a most beautiful, accomplished, and worthy " South- 
ern lady." Kot only was he excluded from the Yazoo " upper 



828 



YAZOO ; OE, 



crust," and limited in his social status to the "stags," the- 
" ladies " of Yazoo refused longer to recognize her. Yazoo- 
'' society" knew full well that I would never approach their 
charmed circles upon my knees, nor by the back-door route.. 
The " stags " knew that I had no pleasure in their vulgar 
orgies, whether carried on in the stores of the merchants after- 
business hours, the back offices of the lawyers, the rear apart- 
ments of the numerous saloons and restaurants, or over the 
"cave," "hole in the wall," or "banks." Poor Karety and 
such as she in Yazoo were so often participants in these 
gatherings, that whenever, out of hunger for some sort of 
social companionship, I ventured upon the " ragged edge " of 
the Yazoo social order, all my former teachings, my saeredi 
theories, my inborn principles got up such a rebellion within 
my soul that I turned at the very threshold, and ran as far 
away from the edge of this social precipice as my conscience 
would carry me under the thump, thump, thump of my ach- 
ing heart. 

Now that Grant was President and in " sympathy with 
fanaticism," now that the free constitution,including sections 
22 of article 12, had been unanimously ratified, now that the 
" trick " of the enemy had failed tO' prevent the " nigro ris- 
ing," quite to the top, now that the " what is it/' Foote, the 
General, the ex-bureau agent, and myself, all " polecats," 
were the law-makers for Yazoo, now that the^freedman, free 
negro, or mulatto" sat on the jury, that his poll-tax had 
been reduced to two dollars, that he was no longer more liable 
to arrest for failure to pay it than " ole mars," that the auc- 
tion block for " runaways " had " been destroyed," that '' our 
nigros" could testify in court " against a white man," that 
Uncles Peter, David, Jonathan, and the late " little garri- 
son," not only had the right but were enjoying it, to buy and 
carry arms, that they were already buying land, that rape of 
a negro girl by a white man was a rape, that the white man's 
" black sweetheart " began to " kick against the pricks," now 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 32^ 

that all these things were no longer in faturo but in 
esse, and now that all present danger that " our nigros " 
were " about to rise," with intent to " kill all the white men^ 
women, and children, from the cradle up," had passed into 
the limbo of the forgotten kukluxes, and the dead Dover 
bulldozer, I deemed it high time that I should take a 
wife. 



S30 YAZOO ; OR, 



CHAPTER LIV:. 

A VISIT TO MY BROTHER — MORE WAYS OF THE COUNTRY — REVE- 
LATIONS. 

CHARLES was not getting on with the colored people in 
Washington County as he had in Yazoo. He had been 
no more warmly received there by the whites than he had 
in Yazoo, but the circumstances were different. The colored 
people of Yazoo had been eye-witnesses of his courage and 
fidehty to correct principles, and he was more popular with 
them, after his defense of the "stronghold," and the badge 
incident, than any other man in the county. Prior to his 
arrival there, the people of Washington County had passed 
through precisely similar experiences to those in Yazoo, and 
Noj'thern and colored men had endured the same serieg 
of hardships and dangers. I resolved to visit my brother, 
and see for myself just what the trouble was, for in our 
schemes for the development of the Yazoo Delta, Washing- 
ton County was likely to become a most important factor. 
It lay on the opposite side of that Delta, and on the great 
" Father of Waters." After my arrival there I was not 
long in determining the cause of Charles' trouble. A difi'er- 
ent influence from that at the base of the Yazoo organiza- 
tion had taken root, and formed the base of the organization 
in that county. 

This sprang from three causes: 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 331 

First. The tendency of the " African Methodist Episcopal 
Church " to segregation. This church had directly and indi- 
rectly a considerable influence in Washington County. The 
Rev. Mr. * was quite popular there. 

Second. The success in the previous campaigns in that 
county of the spirit which prompted the " purely Yankee 
ticket" in Yazoo, in the fall of 1867, allied with the element 
favoring segregation. They had united on a man lor sherifl* 
and tax collector for the county only hopelessly to divide 
upon the refusal of the commanding general to appoint him; 
and 

Third. The appointment of my brother to the most import- 
ant office in the county, a man who had no sympathy what- 
ever with the principles or purposes of either faction, and 
who had not been tried ;is by fire in the Washington County 
crucible. 

Then there was another cause. During their seasons of 
sore trial, since the war, the freed people, everywhere in that 
State, had come to suspect the fi.delity of every man upon whom 
^' ole marsta " smiled. Charles' reception by " the enemy" in 
that county had been too hearty. He was no politician ; he 
fairly loathed the arts of that class of professionals ; he had no 
thought of remaining in office any longer than during the 
transition period from the old to the new order of things. 
Then he would resume the development of his schemes for 
the improvement of the material foundations of the "New 
Empire." 

He had already selected a site for a saw-mill, oil factory, 
and a store ; and, in company with others, was projecting, on 
paper, a plan for a railroad from Greenville to Vicksburgh 
on the south, and Memphis on the north ; another one east 
to Yazoo City, and beyond, to connect with the Great 
Northern,! and west to Little Rock, or some St. Louis con- 
nection. His face was a sufficient introduction for him. 

» This was a "colored" divine wiio, in ISGCi-'", had endeavored to plant the same 
seeds in Yazoo County. His failure there was douljtless due to the eSbrts being put 
forth by the Bureau for the education of tlie freeil people 

t Now the Southern extension of the Illinois Central R. R. 



332 YAZOO ; OF, 

He had no trouble in making the full amount of the bond 
required. Some of the wealthiest citizens of the county 
became his sureties, including Colonel Holland. He had 
never intended to attempt to dictate the policy of the Re- 
publican party of the county, nor to allow his office to be- 
come a "spoils agency" for that party's uses. Whatever 
influence he might have, he loyally purposed should be given 
in aid of a genuine reconstruction of the county. Had he 
been in office in Philadelphia, New York, or Chicago, he 
would have been considered an " impracticable reformer." 

All his sympathies were with the freed people, in whose, 
wretched condition he saw, as I did, a field of labor worthy 
the uninterrupted sacrifice of the money and the labor of 
every patriot and philanthropist in the land. But he felt 
that he was not suited to such work by training nor by tem- 
perament ; therefore he would sustain by his example, and by 
his substantial contributions those who were fitted for it. 
But it cut him to the quick that the intelligent portion of the 
freed people of the county failed to appreciate his past serv- 
ices in behalf of their race, or his present purposes in the 
same direction. He " couldn't understand it at all." 

" Why, my dear brother," said I, "it is a very simple mat- 
ter." 

'•A simple matter ! Albeit, how you talk ! It is not a 
simple matter; it is a very serious matter; for it satisfies me 
that the freed people haven't the capacity to recognize and 
properly appreciate their true friends." 

*' Whew ! Charles ! Now j^ou have forgotten your dearest 
friends. You've forgotten your registered oath of kinship 
with negroes. Tell me what has wrought such a change in 
* the polecat ' of Yazoo ? " 

Charles was staggered just a little by this home thrust; but 
rallying, he replied : 

" The colored people of Yazoo difler as widely from these 
barbarians as the savages of that county do from the white 
people of this." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 333 

I could not restrain an outburst of hearty laughter at the 
absurdity of his speech, in the face 'of all the facts. This 
vexed Charles, who rather petulantly exclaimed : 

" What are you laughing at ? I am sure I see nothing to 
laugh at. I tell you, Albert, this is a serious question. The 
idea, and after all I hav« done and sacrificed for these peo- 
ple! I don't intend to ask their votes; my only desire is to 
do them good, and they won't even come to my Sabbath- 
school." 

Then I— 

" Charles, do you remember a little talk you and I had in 

our room at Mrs. , in 1865, the evening after your return 

to Vicksburg from your first visit to Colonel J. J. U. Black 
♦agent in fact' of Mistress Charlotte Black, of Tokeba ? " 

*' Humph ! Kow what has that got to do with this ques- 
tion ? You're forever going back to Tokeba. I'm not ashamed 
of my judgment of Tokeba, as a business venture. Had it 
not been for those hyena rebels, we would have come out 
with a handsome profit on our investment, in spite of the 
failures of the first two years. You know that as well as 1, 
Therefore, why will you rake up that old subject every time 
we try to talk over any plan for the future ? I don't like it." 

" ^STor do I like it, Charles, but I have found it profitable 
at times, since I came South, to go back over my tracks to 
the starting-point, if only for the purpose of testing ' my 
bearings.' I am sure I find no pleasure in such a retrospect. 

I reckon ^ 

" There it is again ! I do wish you'd leave that word out 
of your vocabulary in future .; I've heard it until I'm sick of 
it. Fact is you're imbibing altogether too many of the ways 
of this country for your own good. You not only talk like 
a Southerner — you are beginning to look and act like one. 
You need have no fears of me, my boy, you'll have grown 
to be a rebel before I shall be." 

But I heeded not his raillery. The question was indeed a 
serious one to me, and was growing more and more serious 
every day of my life. 



334 YAZOO ; or, 

" But you're dodging the subject, Charles, let me hold you 
to it. Then you do recollect our talk on that occasion ?" 

" Well, what ofit ?"" 

" Do you not recall a certain incident in my personal expe- 
rience that I then oft'ered as likely to suggest a peculiar 
phase of life in this sunny Southland, one which might prove 
a serious obstacle to the success of your plans ?" 

" I presume so; but what are you driving at ?" 

" You recall the incident ? " 

" Yes." 

« What was it ? " 

" 0, pshaw ! " 

" No, not pshaw, but Major " 

" You don't mean to say that your Major , the cow- 
ardly fellow who tried to entice you to meet him where he 
could safely have you hung to the limb of a tree by the 
roadside, is the same " 

" The very same fellow whom you introduced to me a bit 
ago. Yes, my brother, unless I am wofully mistaken. He 
perfectly resembles him and bears a similar name. His fel- 
low assassins of that date called him Major " 

'' It isn't possible. You must be mistaken. He had evi- 
dently never seen you before." 

" That was more than five years ago ; besides, circum- 
stances are changed. How large a place is this ? " 

" About eight or nine hundred. Your experience was at 
a river landing. Oh, he can't be the same man. He's one of 
the most courteous and hospitable gentlemen I've met here. 
I have taken dinner at his house twice, staid there all night 
not more than a month ago, and have a standing invitation 
to halt there whenever I'm passing, or come out at any time 
and stay as long as I'm pleased." 

" You have ! Does he drink whisky ? " 

" Not quite as liberally as old Black did. He likes it 
though. But I know he can't be the man. You are mis- 
taken in your impressions. This is not the place at all." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 335 

"How large was this place in N'ovember, 1865 !" 

" Well, there, I don't know. I've understood, though, that 
the town has grown up since the war." 

"Exactly. Well, if this is not the place I landed at that 
pitch dark night, when I sought in vain for hotel accommo- 
dations, and got shelter of a freedwoman who kept a restau- 
rant ' fur de white gen'lemens teridin' co't,' then it's the very 
next landing below here, I am sure, and if that fellow whom 
you introduced is not my Major he is that assassin's ' own 
deah brother,' or first cousin, and I know it." 

" I wonder if it can be possible !" exclaimed my brother, 
in a mood of thorough disgust. 

" Well, this is the county seat of Washington County^ 
isn't it ? " 

" Why, of course." 

" Well, I know that I landed that night in Washington 
County. The plantation I came up to look at was in Wash- 
ington County. They said they were having court in the 
' barn-like structure,' which stood some distance to the north 
of the landing, and back from the river in what was then, 
an open field. The assassins, you'll recollect, were in attend- 
ance on that court as litigants, or witnesses, or jurymen. All 
these facts are just as clear in my mind, my brother, as is my 
recollection of your enthusiasm on that night in Vicksburg, 
when you traced on your map for me the outlines of your 
newly-discovered empire — on your map, Charles, only on 
your map. How long ago was that ?" 

Charles was silent. The old " vacant stare " did not return, 
but hot colors came and went in his cheeks, and seeing that 
my medicine was a-working, I concluded to let well enough 
alone, pulled out a cigar, lighted it and began making '«cur- 
liques"ofits smoke. 

" There it is again ! Do you know how many cigars you 
smoke in a day ? Albert, why don't you quit that disgusting 
habit ? " 

" My brother, do you know this cigar has saved me many- 
a heartache ? " 



■336 YAZOO; OR, 

" Many a heartache ! I know it has poisoned your con- 
stitution already, and will kill you sooner or later if you don't 
stop it." 

" Yes, many a heartache. It's my safety-valve, old boy; I 
had long since ^ busted ' into ^ splithereens' but for this same 
disgusting habit. You ' don't understand it at all,' of course. 
But do you know whenever the blood comes and goes too 
rapidly through my veins, as just a moment since it was 
doing in yours, I light a cigar and let off steam. It soothes 
me. So if indeed and in truth it is a poison, you must charge 
my habit to the causes which suggest its use." 

" What an argument ! But it is worthy you, my brother, 
who smoke tobacco for a sedative. "Well ! did I ever think 
it would come to that ! Strikes me you might employ your 
^rts in support of a better cause." 

« Name it ! " 

" Well tell me what earthly good can the fumes of that 
:stutf do you now ? " 

" Soothes me, Charles, soothes me." 

" Yes, old Black always took his whisky when cold to 
warm him, and to cool him when warm. Bah ! " 

But I continued to puff, all the same, for my indignation 
was getting the mastery over me in spite of the sedative . 
Finally, unable to restrain it any longer I exclaimed, — 
*' Charles, what an ass you've made of yourself here, to be 



sure 



I" 



" Ass of myself?" 

*' Yes. Now listen to me while I give you a piece of my 
mind." 

He had always acted as though in some way my natural 
protector — as an elder brother is apt to do — and this unex- 
pected " rising " on my part was such a surprise to him that 
he stood mute, and listened in blank astonishment, while I 
scolded: 

" It's less than four years since the high-toned, cultured 
ladies of Yazoo called your sister Mollie, who was worship- 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 337 

ping God in the same house with them, a polecat ; it's less 
than four years ago now that a Federal officer, sent to 
Yazoo City to protect the erection of a school-house for the 
freed people, was so warmly welcomed by the high-toned 
honorable gentlemen of that town, that he reported no need 
of troops there. It is but a little over three years ago, that as 
Sheriff Finley's deputies drove our mules through the streets 
of that town, to be sold in obedience to the behests of as bold 
a robber as ever lived, those sixme gentlemen shouted ' hurrah for 
Colonel Black, we'll get rid a them d — n Yankee s — of b — s 
now !' It is less than three years ago, my dear brother, that a 
Federal troop in Y^azoo was so heartily and hospitably enter- 
tained, by those same robbers, that, while their officer, driven 
from the lap of Delilah, was drunk in the street. United 
States soldiers fired upon you and into the dwelling of a 
gracious lady, because you were the ' he polecat ' of Yazoo 
County. It's but little more than two years ago that these 
same high-toned, honorable gentlemen locked you up in the 
common jail — in the murderer's cell, my boy; the murderer's 
cell — and would have hanged 3^ou by the light of the stars to 
the China trees in front of it, had it not been for the fidelity 
and courage of the negroes, and the blufl' of the Bureau agent. 
Yes, it was five — not quite five years ago, that these same 
' high-toned, honorable gentlemen, by G — d sir,' who have 
welcomed you so heartily, would have welcomed your brother 
an utter stranger, only twenty-two, and purely on business 
bent, with a grapevine tied to a tree by the roadside, because, 
and solely because, he was a Yankee: and you have allowed 
these banditti to blindfold you and start you on the dead- watch 
to their camp. For shame ! My dear brother, wake up, look 
about you !" 

" Nonsense ! Come, I've heard enough of that. Let's take 
a walk." 

His look and manner had entirely changed during my 
"fever," and, putting his arm through mine, as he remarked 
that the air in the room was foul from my sii.oke, he said: 
ii2Y 



338 YAZOO; or, 

" The open air will do you more good than your tobacco. 

Let's change the subject . What an infernal country 

this is to be sure." 

''Not so fast, Charles ; not so fast," said I, rejoiced at the 
effect of ray remedy — you see I had taken control of his case 
before the virus of slavery had reached the blood-currents in 
his system, and while he was still amenable to the light of 
reason — " not so bad, my dear boy ; not so bad as it might 
have been had African slavery continued for another century 
upon this rich soil. The ' sick man of the South ' is very sick 
indeed, but it is only a question of endurance, my brother. 
All that is required is time, a steady nerve and persistent 
cuttnig away of the pustules as rapidly as they appear upon 
the surface. Then with a wise and. careful dieting, and skill- 
fully applied, tonics the patient may recover." 

" A long time ! a long time ! Albert, I fear we made a 
mistake when we came to this country. Fact is, I've doubted 
the motives of these fellows here from the first. They've 
been altogether too kind, some of them, while those not in the 
lead have been a little slow in taking the cue, and their treat- 
ment of me has contrasted rather strangely with that 1 have 
received from the more prominent of the old citizens. But 

that don't worry me half so much as the well, not 

ingratitude exactly, but — the truth is a rascally set have got 

on top of our party here and if they ever get into full control 

of affairs they'll steal themselves rich and bankrupt the 

county." 

j^ " Tell me what evidence you have of that." 

" What evidence ? Why ! just look at them. Have you 
ever seen a more scurvy set ?" 

" Say, Charles, when I arrived over from Jackson to see 
about getting you out of that ' murderer's cell ' in the ' com- 
mon ' jail of Yazoo, how do you reckon you and General 
Greenleaf looked to me ?" 

" Nonsense ! I know I never looked like any of this tribe 
here." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 339 

■*•' How do } on know ?" 

"Oh, well, let's change the subject." 

" Wait a minute. That negro Dabuey was in the con- 
Tention with me. He is one of a number who requested me 
to draw a section for our new constitution that would assist 
to cure the greatest of all the evils of this country. He had 
had a wife or daughter, or sister — I forget now which — taken 
from him by force, and that, too, since the war, and prosti- 
tuted to the vilest uses, and he had not known where to seek 
a remedy. In common with all the colored men in that con- 
vention he wanted so stringent a provision as would for all 
future time guarantee to a virtuous, high-minded negro 
woman immunity from such outrages, or place in the hands 
•of her natural or lawful protector the legal means to that end. 
He is temperate, sober, and, as I have good reason to believe, 
honest. Then there is Major Jones. He was also in the 
convention with me. He came to this county in 1865^ about 
the same time we came to Yazoo, and rented a plantation 
here. He was one of the staunchest men in that body and 
is a very respectable gentleman." 

" Charles, you should get acquainted with Republicans here, 

■even at the risk of making enemies of Major and his 

fellows." 

" 0, well, let's change the subject. I see you've been 
kicking up a breeze in the Senate. Tell me about it." 

'^'There's nothing at all in it." 

" Well, the papers are all talking about it, and giving you 
great credit." 

" Democratic papers you mean. Of course, all that's taffy." 

" But what have you been doing ? It seems to take with 
the ' assassins,' as you call them." 

•' Not assassins, Charles. 'The enemy,' you mean. The 
next batch that reaches your ' berg' here will doubtless curse 
me as bitterly as the last batch the steamers brought you 
praised me." 

" Been doing somethhig more, eh ? Well, what was all 



340 YAZOO ; OR, 

this other about ? I can't make out from the newspaper 
accounts." 

" I found myself on the ' other side ' of the House, upon an 
important question, sp rung upon the Senate. There had 
been no canvassing upon it, and it was full in the face of 
every safeguard experience has adopted for the preservation 
of our liberties — the liberties of the people. It was an ilJ- 
advised, hastily constructed measure, and as the Republican 
blood was up, it was likely to pass. It could not have re- 
lieved the Government's embarrassment in the case, and would 
have stood a lasting reproach to our party, had it not been 
opposed. So I attacked it, and, after quite a bitter struggle, 
in which many of my old friends denounced me as an apos- 
tate, deserter, and all that sort of thing, it was * postponed.* 
That killed it." 

" Let's see, that was the Yerger case." 

"■ Yes, of course everybody knew that I had no sympathy 
with Yerger, the assassin of Colonel Crane. The great fuss 
the enemy have made over it but illustrates one of their 
methods of making converts to their cause. Our fellows were 
aa ashamed of it afterward as while in the heat of their pas- 
sion over the release of Yerger they were mad at me." 

" But let's talk of something else. Isn't it about time you 
began to think of taking a wife?" 

'•' Humph ! well that is something else sure enough. But 
Yankee fashion, I guess I'll answer your question by ask- 
ing another. When are you to be married ? " 

" Soon after the legislature adjourns." 

Then Charles stopped short in the dirt road over which we 
were walking through the plowed fields,* and turning upon 
me a most doleful countenance, exclaimed: 

"Look here ! are you going to marry that rebel woman?" 

* Greenville at that date was surrounded on tlie west by the Mississippi River, and 
on all its other sides by ojicn fields that stretched away a level plain to the dense 
forests of gum and eyi>ress, out of which they had ))eeu wrought, in those " good old 
days before the war," when there was no need of retail merchants in those parts, for 
the New Orleans, St. Louis, Louisville, and Cincinnati packets took orders from the 
planters along the river on their fiictors abroad, and delivered to them their plautatioa 
supplies regularly on yearly contracts. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM, 341 

It was my brother's turn to scold now, so he appeared to 
think, at least, and he seized his opportunity with a zest that 
showed me how deep was his interest in any step I might 
take, so vital to my future happiness as ray marriage. 

" Why ! " I exclaimed. "Charles, what's the matter with 
you V 

" Matter enough, I should think, from all I can hear." 

*' Well, what have you heard ?" 

" "Why ! all this talk about your engagement to Miss , 

what's her name ?" 

^' So — you've — heard — that — too, have you? Pray, who 
told you?" 

" Several have mentioned it to me. It was only last week 
that Colonel Withers, the biggest old reb in this county, on 
his return from a trip down the river told me he had heard 
that you were engaged to her." 

''Well, what did he have to say about it?" 

^' Oh, he thought it an excellent idea; good way to close up 
the bloody chasm, you know, and all that sort of nonsense. 
He actually congratulated me upon it. Pretty fellow, you, 
to talk to me about allowing these assassins to blindfold me! 
For my part I'd much rather submit to that operation by a 
man than any woman I ever saw." 

^'Ha, ha, ha! had you?" 

" Better look sharp, boy." 

" Charles, my dear, big brother, will you promise not to go 
back on me ?" 

'' Well you're my brother, of course, but then why haven't 
you said something to me about it before ?" 

"Ah! I see. You mean your consent. Well, I ask you 
now. Have 1 your consent to marry the only girl in this 
wide world that I care a ' tinker's baubee ' for, as Colonel 
Black used to say ? " 

'• What an old hyena he is ! " 

" But you're oli" the subject, Charles." 

" My consent ? Why, you're of age, man. As you make 
your bed, you must lie, you know." 



342 YAZOO; or, 

" Yes, I've heard that remark before, and shall doubtless 
often hear it again. Bat you promise not to disown me, do 
j'OU ?" 

" Y-e-a-s, Yes, I'll promise, but — " 

*^ L)ok me in the eye, old polecat, I am anxious to see how 
you take it — there, steady now ! You are mistakea, ray 
brother! God willing I am going to marry a ' nigger ' school- 
marm." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 343 



CHAPTER LY. 

MORE REVELATIONS AND MORE STRAW FOR BRICKS — VIRTUE BY 
CONTRAST — CROSSING THE RUBICON. 

MY brother's ejes did not droop at my announcement. 
Thej did search my very soul. He must have been 
content with what he saw at the bottom, for, taking my arm 
in his, in that affectionate, brotherly way, which was all the 
more precious to me because it was not often he did it — 
Charles was not very demonstrative in his affections — he 
pulled me around, and we resumed our walk. 

"Your cigar has gone out, I see." 

" Yes ; let me re-light it ; do you know I'm awfully glad 
you don't appear to need the sedative." 

" I should think you would." 

" Only it's gratitude, not disgust, that has excited my nerves, 
old fellow ; I'll throw it away, shortly ; fact is, I've promised 
Carrie to quit it altogether before our wedding day." 

"Well that's a good beginning, anyhow." 

"Good; now tell me about yourself, Charles; why don't 
you get married ?" 

" You haven't told me who it is yet that is to take the place 
of your cigar." 

"Oh, do you recollect a certain Sabbath-school you visited 
with me while in Jackson last fall ? " 

" The one that had so many unrecognized children of ' first 
citizens of Mississippi' in it?" 



344 YAZOO; Oil, 

'- The same ; by the way, T had not learned all about her 
day-school then; the truth is, ray dear brother, there are 
children of Governors, United States Senators, members of 
Congress, of the 'High Court of Errors and Appeals,'* of 
the Legislature, and of sheriffs, justices of the peace, doc- 
tors, lawyers, raiuisters, merchants, planters, school teachers, 
blacksmitlis, carpenters, and general laborers, in that school. 
Would you believe it ? " 

"Yes, I don't doubt it; it's just so here ; only the parents 
are less distinguished; being at the ancient, political and 
social centre of the great State of Mississippi — the arch-trai- 
tor's home — I am not surprised at it at all. But it must be 
a very large school to accommodate all the classes andgrades 
you've mentioned." 

" The first time I visited it there were seventy odd pupils, 
by actual count, '^ 

''Is it possible ! and but one teacher ?" 

" Only my girl." 

" I wonder how she manages them all ?" 

" Do you recollect a remark you made of her as we left the 
Subbath-school that day ?" 

" I don't know that I do ; I remember that I thought her 
a most heroic girl " 

"And said she'd make a better member of the legislature 
than any of those you saw in that august body." 

'' Ha, ha ! Yes, I recollect." 

" Well, I'm going to make her my wife." 

" MoUie told me you were very much in love with a Miss 
, at Fox Lake." 

" You know I was a boy then. Perhaps had she waited 
for me, I might have fallen in love with her after I got back 
from the war." 

" Were you and she not engaged ?" 

" Oh, no. You know how it was at the old home. I used 
to see her home from church, attend Good Templars Lodge, 

* Now styled the Supreme Court. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 345 

and little parties with her — as her escort. "We were not 
engaged, and when ray three years were up and I didn't come 
back, I suppose she thought 't'wouldn't pay to wait, I hear 
she has an excellent husband, and they love each other well. 
I saw them when I was home last." 

" What a humdrum place Fox Lake is getting to be." 
" Yes, the railroad killed it. But it'll wake up by-and-by." 
"What a difterence between the people there and here !" 
" Don't let's talk about that. I get homesick whenever T 
think of it. Why don't you tell me why you don't get a wife? 
You always have managed to put me ofi', but now I've told 
you, you shall tell me." 

-" You haven't told me where she is from yet." 
■"You've forgotten I told you all about that when we left 
her school that day." 

" Then you said nothing of your intention to marry her." 
"She's from Syracuse, New York." 
" Good place to come from, by George !" 
" I see you are determined to have the whole story. Iler 
mother has been a widow several years ; had a large family 
on her hands ; lost her eldest boy and main support in one of 
the last skirmishes about Petersburg. Ever since 1864 they've 
all been teaching — mother and four children — in the South. 
They live together — the mother and two daughters — at Jack- 
sou. Carrie is the most — perhaps I ought not to say most suc- 
cessful, where all have done so nobly — but certainly the most 
popular teacher there, unless I except one or two most estimable 
Quaker ladies. Certain it is that she has not only won the 
love of all the freed people, she has also won the profound 
respect of even ' the enemy,' who treat her with great defer- 
ence, notwithstanding her calling. Mr. Barksdale, Judge 
Potter, and many of the solid men of the capital city have 
manifested their appreciation of her tact, skill, ability and 
devotion in many wa} s. She is as tireless in her work as she 
is skillful. Think of it, she not only manages that large day 
school — sometimes numbering a hundred — but she attends to 



346 YAZOO ; or, 

her religious duties, superintends — at least leads — the Sab- 
bath-school, runs a temperance society, and has put in execu- 
tion various other plans for the social elevation of the freed 
people." 

^' I don't see how she stands such a strain." 

" My dear boy, the cause in which she is engaged — the 
cause. Just think of it; there are not half teachers enough 
for those hungry, starving children. Then too she is a won- 
derful creature, that girl of mine ; never has been sick a day 
in her life ! Never has taken a dose of any kind of medicine ! 
Her breath is as pure and sweet as if it came from off a bed 
of spring violets." ^ 

" Ha, ha, ha ! haw, haw, haw ! You forget yourself, my 
boy. That should be a secret." 

" Don't care, we're engaged ; guess a fellow can kiss his 
girl after they've been engaged as long as we have." 

*' How long is that ?" 

*' 'Bout a year." 

" Well, I guess you do love her. Where did you first meet 
her ?" 

" The lirst time I saw Carrie I lost my head, banged if I 
didn't. It happened this way : I was at Jackson on some 
business or other connected with the election. General 
Copeland invited me to visit that school with him; said he 
had something to show me better for the eyes than fine 
gold; ay, than many pearls. We were detained, and so- 
were late. As we approached the building, I heard a multi- 
tude of voices singing 'Your Mission;' and strong and clear 
above the tones of the children those of another. There was 
something in that voice that wan 'my heart for the singer 
even before I saw her ; I can't describe it. It was not pathos. 
I think it was will-power. Whatever it was, it gave her 
tones a sort of magnetism, or what you please; only, it 
caught hold of me, and I halted to listen, restraining the 
General, who was anxious to reach the building before the 
exercises closed. Then they sang ' John Brown's Body ; ' 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FKEEDOM. 347 

and then some little thing about rising — ' We are rising as 
a people ' and so forth. When they began that I was 
as anxious to get among thera as the General. We found a 
girl, simply, but as I thought, exquisitely dressed, at the head 
of what seemed to be an army of children, varying in color 
from the pale, blue-eyed, flaxen-haired Caucasian type, to the 
pure-blooded African. Advancing down the aitle to greet us, 
with the simple grace of an honest, blushing country girl, 
yet with all the dignity of a veritable queen, as 1 fancied, 
she welcomed us with a smile, and said : ' We are always 
glad to have such distinguished gentlemen visit our school ; 
it encourages the children.' 'Encourages the children!' 
Just think of it! She was apparently but eighteen herself; 
of slender figure, and many of her 'children' were not 
only much larger, they were also older than she. I 
thought I detected a mischievous twinkle in her eye as she 
said it; and quickly led the way to the front, where some 
of the children had already placed seats for us, just as if they 
understood it, and then she resumed her place. After giv 
ing us a few illustrations of the progress of the school^ 
displaying her masterful discipline over the herd, and giving 
the children a chance to show how much they loved their, 
teacher — and they fairly worshipped her, old boy, no mis- 
take — she turned the entire school over to us, with permission 
to talk to them or catechise them, as we saw fit. Oh, well, 
it's a long story, Charles, I'll cut it short by just saying that 
after the General had catechised them, and I had praised 
them, and she had turned them loose, as we walked with her on 
her route homeward, I learned that she had been over two 
years similarly engaged. Well, I fell head over heels in love 
with her, and ever since that the thick clouds over the old 
Stubble-ground of Yazoo have been drifting away, until 
now I can see the sun, and hear faint sounds of melody 
from the happy songs of a risen people.^' 

" Well, there; hadn't you better get down otf that horse 
and remain with us below, yet awhile ? " 



348 YAZOO ; OR, 

" Reckon, perhaps, 1 might as well, since mystery is told," 

''Albert, have you considered all the obstacles in the way 
of such a step ?" . / 

My brother all at once became very grave and awfully 
solemn, which was heightened, if po.^ible, by my reply, for I 
retorted thus: 

'• Obstacles ! What obstacles, pray ? Ought there to be 
any obstacles in the way of my marriage to such a girl ? " 

" There should not be, but in Ohio it is a penitentiary 
offense for a white man to marry a woman of African descent. 
And now that I think of It, I apprehend that you'll find it 
quite difficult to escape the same penalty here in Mississippi, 
unless by some hocus-pocus you can prove yourself to be of 
the same blood. Considering your complexion and features, 
particularly your nose, that would be as difficult an under- 
taking as the former, in my opinion, and " 

All Charles' serious aspect had now vanished, and I could 
see that he was preparing to retaliate on me for having on a 
certain occasion called him a jail-bird. Anticipating which 
I interrupted him: 

''My dear brother, you're a long way behind the times." 

" Behind the times ! Well, I judge that you at least mean 
to keep ahead." 

" There may be less glory, but there certainly is more honor 
on the picket line than with the reserves. I wi?h I were able 
to keep up with the outposts. As it is, I am, after all, but a 
laggard, for the truth is, the only obstacle in the way of my 
marriage is my inborn timidity, bashfulness." 

"Xow that's rich!" 

" But it is true, Charles, old boy ;(the battle was fought in 
this country when the rebellion collapsed at Appomattox. 
Garrison, Phillips, Lucretia Mott, Gerrit Smith, Sumner, and 
a small army of heroic souls have won all the honors. There 
is now no law in Mississippi standing between my betrothed 
and me. There are none now to forbid the banns. African 
elaverv on this continent is dead." 



ON TOE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 349 

.."Are you sure there is no law ?" 

'.'More than a month ago I introduced into the Senate a 
bill repeaUng all the laws upon that subject, and live days 
afterward that bill, having passed both houses, was approved 
by the Governor," 

" Is it possible ' I haven't heard a word about it," 

" It is a fact." 

"You must have had a pretty hard fight; I don't understand 
it at all ; how is it that the Democratic papers have kept so 
still about it ? " 

"There was no opposition to its passage," 

" You surprise mc ! Now, don't tell me that the Demo- 
crats voted for it." 

" Some did, both in the Senate and in the House ; there 
were none who objected." 

"Well! well! what next?" 

" This next : The leaven of liberty is working here, even 
here upon this old stubble-ground of African slavery and 
hot- bed of miscegenation. I have another surprise for you. 
Read this." Saying which, I handed m^ 'i-other a copy of 
the following : 

"An Act* declaring and making legitimate certain illegitimate 
children of James Anderson, residing in Holmes County, State of 
Mississippi, as therein specified in said act. 

" Whereas, James Anderson has, by petition to the Legislature of 
the State of Mississippi, prayed for the removal of all illegitimacy 
from certain of his children, and given reasons therefor in said peti- 
tion, which are just and humane in their character ; therefore, 

" Section 1. Be it enacted by tlie Legislature of the State of MississipiAy 
That Sheppard Anderson, born August 31st, 1854, and begotten of 
Catharine Lee : Richard Anderson, born March 5th, 1859, and begotten 
of Jane Anderson ; Lewis Anderson, born May 1st, 1860, and begotten 
of Nellie Ellis; Caleb Anderson, boru September 12th, 18G3, begotten of 
Jensey Ilunnicut; Edward Anderson, born July 8th, 1864, and be- 
gotten of Alice Courtney ; and Jane Anderson, born October 7th, 1858, 
begotten by.Margaret Fisher ; and all of which said children are the 
illegitimate issue of said women by said James Anderson, a citizen 
residing in Holmes County, State of Mississippi, be, and the same are 

*Sec Laws of Mississippi, l.*<70, pp. 5C7-'8. 



350 YAZOO; OR, 

hereby, declared and made the legitimate children of the said James 
Anderson, for all purposes in law or otherwise. 

" Sec. 2. Be it furt'ier enacted, That this act shall take effect on and 
after its passage, and all laws inconsistent therewith be, and the 
same are hereby, repealed. 
"" Passed the House of Representatives, June 8tli, 1870. 

" F. E. Franklin, 
" Speaker of the House of Bepresentdtives. 
*' Passed the Senate June 11th, 1870. 

''R. C. Powers, 
'"'' B resident of the Senate. 

"State of Mississippi, 
" Office of Secretary of State, 

"Jackson, Mississippi. 
"I, James Lynch. Secretary of State of the State of Mississippi, 
■do hereby certify that the above and foregoing act, entitled ' An act 
declaring and making legitimate certain illegitimate children of 
James Anderson, residing in Holmes County, State of Mississippi,' 
was duly passed by both houses of the legislature, at the dates above 
specified, by the respective presiding officers thereof, and remained in 
t^ie hands of the governor, and was not returned by him within five 
-days (Sunday excepted) after it was presented to him, and that in 
the meantime no adjournment of the legislature occurred to prevent 
its return, whereby said act became a law of said State by operation 
■of the constitution thereof. 

"• Given under my hand and the great seal of the State of Missis- 
sippi, hereunto affixed, this 27th day of June, A. D. 1870. 
[L. s.] " James Lynch, 

" Secretary of State.''"' 

" Well, Albert, there is but one thing about this that sur- 
prises me," said Charles, after concluding the reading of the 
foregoing, " and that is that such a man should apply for such 
legislation." 

" Nothing surprising in that fact, my brother, when you 
shall have reflected a moment. Deep down in the heart of 
all men is a sense of the law of right and of love. Hereto- 
fore in the South that principle has been repressed by 
statutes, and even men of the courage and of the wealth of 
this Holmes County repentant rebel, have not been able to 
throw off allegiance to such barbarous restrictions upon sim- 
ple right and justice. Nov, the way having been opened for 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 351 

them by a power from without, thev are relieved of the bur- 
theu; besides, in this case, the father of those seven children 
by six different slave women is growing old and wishes before 
the final day to prepare himself for Judgment. He owns 
several thousand acres of land, was formerly owner of many 
■slaves, and, without some such provision, I presume that he 
feared his otherwise only lawful heirs would refuse to do any- 
thing for the negro.'" 

" Let us change the subject, I am disgusted with this one." 

" What an outrage to compare this woman I love with those 
old slave-lords, or any of their Mawful or unlawful heirs!' 
By the laws of Ohio, she hardly could have done so, but 
by that old Mississippi slave code, she doubtless would have 
ranked as a white woman. So much for the difference — when 
they lay alongside of each other, an I are commercially re- 
lated — between slave and free institutions as they affect our 
prejulices. Under the circumstances, and here in Missis- 
sippi, Carrie ranks as a colored woman. She was born in 
lawful wedlock, in a State of freedom, and is descended by 
blood — you know I believe in blood — from the best stock of 
-old England on one, of Holland on another, and of Africa or 
Madagascar, I don't care which, on the other. She is the 
.grandest woman living, my brother." 

'•' Don't your conscience trouble you just a little for having 
-enticed such a teacher from such a field ?" 

" Well, no. I believe the normal state of women is that 
of true marriage. Besides, her mother said — well, she said 
Carrie was old enough and sensible enough to choose for 
•herself, and as she appeared to be willing to change her field 
of, labor for a new one, it hadn't troubled me any that way 
yet. No, sir." 

"I too believe that the normal condition of man and woman 
is marriage, Albert, and I expect to leave this hole next week 
never to return until I bring with me my wife. I should 
doubtless have been married three years ago, but for our 
troubles at Tokeba." 



352 YAZOO; OR, 

''Thank you, Charles — I mean God bless you, old polecat. 
Now I can understand that awful vacant stare of yours." 

" What's that about vacant stare ? " 

"That awful vacant stare of yours^during^ the last year of 
Tokeba, and while you and the General were hemmed up in' 
our little Yankee stronghold." 

"Pshaw! 1 don't know what you mean, I am sure." 

" Of course you don't, Charles; I've no idea you can at all 
understand it; it's like some other mysteries. But do yo\k 
know those awful spells of yourf, when you'd sit for hours- 
looking into the fire, or at the blank cold walls of the little 
stronghold; when it seemed that your face grew longer and 
your cheeks hoUower and your eyes larger_]every time, used 
to make me feel miserable indeed." 

" Nonsense." 

" Mo nonsense about it. Wouldn't wonder if you should yet 
deny there ever was such a thing as a stronghold in Yazoo, 
or a kuklux, or a jail, or a murderer's cell, or a Colonel ."" 

''There, there ; come, you haven't told me the foundation 
for that story about you and Miss yet. How about itf" 

" Well, you know " 

" No, I don't know." 

"Nothing but this, then. Of late the old enemy have 
sort'o been " 

" Sort'o been !" 

" Been getting very kind of sweet on me. They were 

slower getting to it in Yazoo than at certain other points — 

where Miss lives, for example. The lady in question i& 

one of the most brilliant and accomplished I ever met, a splen- 
did woman, no mistake about that ; but then — oh, well, they 
ar'n't of our kind by a long shot. That's all there is to it, and 
when I saw that my visits to her father's house were being 
misconstrued by the public, I got Carrie to accompany me to 
the House of Representatives one day daring a recess of the 
Senate, and caused announcement to be made of our intended 
marriage. You know if a fellow is seen here in public with 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 353 

a girl as many as three or four times, or calls on her that 
number of times, the legitimate inference is that they are 
engaged. But tell me now about your girl." 

" An old classmate of mine. I'll bring her over when we 
get back." 

" Going to have a wedding tour ?" 

" No more than a short trip to the lake. She lives not a 
great way from Cleveland. Then we shall come directly 
here," 

-' Carrie and I shall marry in Jackson and take the cars at 
once for a wedding trip. We shall spend a few weeks 
amonarst her friends in ISTew York." 



23y 



354 YAZOO ; OR, 



CHAPTER LVI. 

A WEDDING — AN ''OUTCAST'S" HOME — OUR FIRST SOCIAL EXPERI- 
ENCE — THE ENEMY CATCHING AT STRAWS — THE PROMISES OF 
THE TRUTH ARE CERTAIN — A TEMPERANCE CAMPAIGN IN YAZOO 
— A SOCIAL REVOLUTION. 

SHORTLY after the conversation between Charles and 
mjself, reported in the last chapter, he came to Jackvson, 
accompanied with his wife. I was satisfied, I am sure. I 
never saw so contented a look on his face before. He was 
too young yet to manifest any feeling of triumph, and too 
old to act foolish about it. It was easy enough to be seen, 
though, that he was very happy. 

Soon afterward the records of the Circuit Court of Hinds» 
the capital county of Mississippi, bore the fact of my mar- 
riage to Miss Carrie V. Highgate,on August 3d, 1870. The 
bond required was about the same as that exacted of my 
brother, a failure to give which had resulted in his incarcera- 
tion in a murderer's cell in that Yazoo common jail. But 
now that Grant, instead of Johnson, was President, and the 
new constitution had been ratified unanimously, and the 
black code had been repealed, and the " nigi-os " had " done 
riz," I had no trouble at all to give it. 

Within one week from the day we began keeping house 
in Yazoo, wife and I — how strangely that contrasts with 
"Yankee stronghold" — and while I was not at home, two 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 355 

colored " ladies," of the same sort as Rarety, dressed in the 
height of fashion, bonnets, silks, jewels, kids, etc., etc., etc., 
called to pay their "respects" to "Mrs. Senator Morgan," 
and to " welcome " her to '* 'Azoo." 

Mrs. Morgan had lived South long enough to know how 
to meet the emergency, so she had two chairs placed on the 
porch, and bade them be seated. She told me afterwards 
that she welcomed them kindly, but they promptly lifted 
their skirts and indignantly withdrew. 

In less than forty-eight hours the details of this " social 
incident," exaggerated out of all semblance of truth, were 
known throughout the county and traveled abroad. Some 
of the observations of the enemy, as reported to us, were 
most amusing. Yazoo society was racked to its founda- 
tions, both on the recagtiized and on the unrecognized side. 

"How dare she!" exclaimed Mrs. Colonel and Mrs. Major 
and Mrs. Captain and Mrs. Judge and Mrs. Flunky, to their 
colored servants. 

" She's no better than the balance of ye. Hi ! We always 
did believe you all would find out some day that yo' god 
Mawgin was no mo' friend to you all than we all always wor. 
Now you'll see faw yo' own self. Pity he hadn't done got 
her b'fo' gettin' on top we all, by you alls vote? an' done 
stole himself rich. Keckon he'll be buildin' a grand house 
to put her in now, if he can get you all to tote the bricks. 
Heap mo' mischief in sto' fur ye, mind, onless yo' drive um 
out a y'here." 

Colonel Black, the " human hornet," the " Cyclops," all 
the irreconcilables, were in the happiest of moods. 

" That settles it!" some said ; "Got'im now!" said some; 
"Thank God, the tyrant's dethroned!" said others. And 
they all agreed that " Next time we'll vote 'im out with nigro 
votes, by G— d." 

But there had been many changes in Yazoo within three 
years, and the more conservative and practical of " the 
enemy" said : 



356 YAZOO ; or. 

" What you all making snch a fnss about ? You'll find 
yo'r mistake. The nigros are free now ; they're not d — d 
fools. High time you all knew that," and so forth. 

Mrs. Stockdale, Mrs. Snodgrass and others of the most 
respectable and accomplished "white Undies" of Yazoo, aU 
of the first or next to the "■ first families/' said : 

''Served them right; glad to see that Mrs. Morgan is not 
a coward, nor her husband a demagogue." 

When I heard that I said to Carrie, " Life in the old land 
yet, wife," 

We afterward learned that certain "white ladies" of 
Yazoo had prompted the women to call, and furnished a large 
share of the " finery " for the purpose. This incident still 
further illustrated : 

First. The lamentable ignorance of the irreconcilables re- 
specting the character of the free negro. 

Second. The tenacity with which they clung to the hope 
that, by hook or by crook, they w^ould sooner or later regain 
control of the county government. 

Third. That they were " poHticians," all, male and female, 
old and young. 

Fourth. Their readiness to seize upon every incident, in 
the private, no less unscrupulously than in the public life of 
their opponents, without regard to their feelings, and make 
use of it for the accomplishment of their purposes. 

Fifth — and perhaps this embraces all the others — their 
general " cussedness." 

During my residence in that county I had not said or done 
an}*thing, publicly or privately, that could by any fair means, 
be construed as indicating on my part the possession of agra- 
rian convictions or sentiments, or that I wished to see any 
of the legitimate distinctions in the social order destroyed or 
changed. There was not in the county a man, woman, or 
child who had ever seen me intoxicated, or tipple. Not one 
who had ever seen megamble, race horses, attend cock-fights, 
or who had heard me use profane or vulgar language. N'ot 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 357 

one who could say that I had ever shot, shot at, struck, 
struck at, or wronged any human bein^ in their ojoods, 
their lands, their houses, or their persons, or in any way. The 
incident was not due to caste prejudice, for although I was 
an open advocate of the pohtical and civil equality of all men, 
I had often declared publiclj- — I had never taught the con- 
trary privately, by precept nor by example — that there could 
never be social equality except among equals, I had drawn, 
reported to the constitutional convention, advocated, and 
voted for the clause relating to concubinage and adultery in 
our new constitution, and in my public speeches, in the county 
and elsewhere, I had summoned all virtuous men and women 
to make war upon the^e odious and destructive practices, as 
being more dangerous to the peace and happiness of the peo- 
ple of the State than the yellow fever and cholera scourges, 
the liquor scourge, or the old slave scourge, Oeciuse, they were 
between " ttoo races,^^ one of which had always maintained 
its " superiority " b>j jorce, and h id perpeta ited a "^ sep iratlon " 
of the tivo in all thoae affairs of life whiih tend to develop the 
moral nature of man, and perpetuated thdr contact in all those 
affairs of life which tend to develop m cri's loio:r nature. It 
could not have been due to anything my wife had said or 
done, because they knew nothing about her. The incident 
was due to the inborn purpose of the lighter to rule over the 
darker-skinned man. It was due to the instincts of a race, 
once civilized, but now reduced by the inherent concupis- 
cence of African slavery, to lecherous savages. 

But it was " simply a question of endurance," and with 
Buch a woman by my side as my wife, I could endure all 
things. Wife and I tried to act just as though no such 
incident had ever happened. In this a little diplomacy was 
necessary; but while we w^ere " wise as serpents" I am sure 
we were '' harmless as doves." We not only refused to make 
any apology, we did not attempt to deny the act which had 
given such offense to the ^' nigro," and which had raised such 
bright anticipations in the minds of the enemy, either by any 



858 YAZOO ; OR, 

sort of public or private notice of it or its consequences. All 
we did or tried to do was to stand erect, and that we did to 
our own satisfaction. Therefore, it " shortly " came about 
that as all their former tactics had done, this trick of '^ the 
enemy " also reacted upon themselves, one of the first con- 
sequences of which was that the new social distinctions which 
the General and his family, the ex-bureau agent and his 
family, other Northerners with their families, and Charles 
and myself had endeavored in vain to establish amongst the 
freed people began to take root. Theretofore, in the churches, 
the schools, and all social gatherings among them, the colored 
concubines of white men harl been able to maintain their 
supremacy. These ranked according to the rank of their 
white " sweethearts." Think of it, sweetheart applied to 
such an object in the white social world' 

While " Liz " was the concubine of a wealthy planter she 
stood at the head of colored " 'ciety ;" when she became the 
concubine of a merchant or a lawyer she stepped down one 
point, and when she had dropped down another peg and was 
the concubine of a ^' po' clerk," she took her place in the 
ranks of that "social set," and thus she continued to descend 
in the social scale until she became the wife of a " po' no 
'count nigger." Meanwhile her daughters were following her 
example, often in her very tracks, and close upon her heels down 
the long descending scale — unless, as was often the case, the 
concubine had too much pride and self-respect to rear daugh- 
ters for such a purpose — in which case she destroyed herself 
to prevent it, or killed them. Indeed this system had been 
the source of unfailing fountains of tears— all unavailing. 
But the thick clouds had lifted from oft' the old stubble- 
ground of Yazoo, and the rays of the risen new sun were so 
bright that they dazzled the eyes of " the enemy " and of 
even the members of the former little garrison of the Yankee 
stronghold, so that some of them, too, for quite a little time 
could not see. 

Had Carrie and I been alo le in this struggle, the result 



^j^UX^ 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 359 

would have been different. We were not alone. "We had 
on our side, not only a little handful of noble spirits in 
Yazoo, and in the State outside that county, we also had 
Eli^ah^s bones, for tlie secret recesses of the hearts of the 
enemy swelled and expanded under the pressure of the light 
of life remaining hidden therein, and forced from them pro- 
foundly respectful demeanor toward Mrs, Morgan and toward 
myself. Then, toj, in addition to such aids, there were warm 
and true-hearted friends abroad, who wrote us kindly cheer- 
ing words, words of succor and of comfort. Of this class 
the reader will forgive me for quoting the following letter, 
which I shall give entire: 

" Peterboro', Nov. 15, 1880. 
^^ Colonel Monjan: 

"My Dear Sir: In the midst of my preparations for going in the 
morning to the National Historical Society Convention at Syracuse, I 
received your deeply interesting and thrice welcome letter. I must not 
■^ only acknowledge the receipt of it, though it will be only in brief lines 
that I can do so. God be praised for bringing your enemies to be at 
peace with you! I am rejoiced tolearn that kindness is shown you where 
you expected to have to encounter hatred. You chose a sweet, loving- 
hearted girl for your wife, and she chose you for her husband. The 
result is a happy pair. Bat this is not the most important result. The 
I most is its contributing largely to break down the unnatural and un- 
l christian barriers between races. You and your dear wife have in this 
Vespect set a useful example before the world. I am happy to learn 
through you that your wife is 'as well as usual. ' Mrs. Smith joins me 
in my kind regards to you. Your friend, 

" Gerrit Smith. 
"P. S. — The Star (thanks to yourself) comes regularly to me." 

The promises of the truth are certain. 

During this season " we all Yankees/' *' nigros," and 
" scalawags " in Yazoo, gathered the first fruits of all our 
planting in that county during the reconstruction period, and 
with high hopes for the future, prepared the ground for other 
seed, and prayed for the blessed showers of love from on 
high to quicken them. 

There were not quite two thousand souls in Yazoo City- 
There were forty-one places where intoxicating liquors were 



360 YAZOO ; OR, 

kept for sale at retail, and every wholesale and retail dry goodS;, 
grocery and general supply store in the town, with two excep- 
tions, both Yankees, sold them — when they did not give them 
away to attract custom. There were also seven diiferent 
houses of worship, and three regular besides several irregu- 
lar gambling houses.* 

Notwithstanding his terrible front, the Yazoo temperance 
association prepared to attack this monster, too — how fearless 
lack of worldly wisdom will make good men and women- 
Under the " local option law," passed by our " radical legis- 
lature," all women above the age of eighteen were granted 
an equal voice with men upon the question of license or na 
jcense for the sale of intoxicants. Of course, this included 
the colored ladies of Yazoo. For a long time the " white '' 
temperance associations of the State hal labored in vain for 
this opportunity. Now that they found the " nigros" rallying- 
to their support, they suspected the effect of the law ( which 
they had themselves drafted and supported) and began to 
f*all away from the movement. The "white" churches of 
Yazoo City were quite active on their side of the "line," and 
the "colored" on theirs. 

When the campaign closed in Yazoo City more than two- 
thirds of the colored men and women wdthin the corporation^ 
of the requisite age, had signed in good faith a petition 
requesting the proper authorities not to renew the licenses af 
those who had been licensed or to grant new license to any 
one for the sale qf intoxicating liquors. In the '^ white''' 
churches the pastors had utterly failed to get two-thirds 
of even the ladies forming their membership, and the 
petition was " lost " or " strayed " or " stolen " while in 
the hands of the devoted pastor of the " white" Presbyterian 
Church, who had worked long, faithfully, and most devotedly 
in the good cause. Thus the movement in Yazoo failed. 
I had taken no active part, nor had my wife, in this cam- 

* Gambling was carried on extensively in the private houses of the "best citizens. " 
I knew of no houses of " ill-fame " in Yiizoo. They are not a " necessary evil" in the- 
South. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 361 

paigii, more than to give it a silent moral support bj example 
and good wishes for its promoters. 

Previous to the inauguration of the campaign I had on 
several occasions, in the little church we helped to build, and 
at public gatherings, strenuouslj^ advocated reform in this 
direction, but as a leader in tbe political field I did not deem 
it prudent to enter into such a canvass, and so contented 
mjself and satisfied my political supporters by allowing this 
work to be done by those who were not directly responsible 
for " higher trusts." Yet the whisky-dealers and the "whisky- 
guzzlers " and their friends not only traced the movement 
directly to my door, they also held me responsible for it. 
This, of course, was not all they laid at my door during this 
period. 

Another outrage was perpetrated Ujion the high-toned,, 
honorable, down trodden, oppressed and distressed white cit- 
izens of Yazoo. So long as the concubines could remain at 
the head of the Mississippi social order on the " inferior side of 
the line " they appeared tolerably content and took advan- 
tage of the new constitution only for the purpose of enforc- 
ing their rights as heirs in cases where there were none having 
a prior right. Now that the concubine's position as a social 
leader of the colored people was not only in danger, but several 
of them in Yazoo had been " turned out of church " because 
they were "living in adultery" in the sight of man as well as 
of God, many of that class began to inquire whether there was 
any legal inhibition upon their marriage with " white sweet- 
hearts." Finding there was none they not only kicked 
against the pricks, they actually began to wear armor against 
them. Of course this could never be made by the whites a pre- 
text for another "nigro rising," never ! It would endanger 
their standing in the " civilized world." Grant and not John- 
son being President, the new constitution having been rati- 
fied — unanimously, the "young one" and his "imps" being 
already "on top," the enemy were now thoroughly besieged 
and in a most sorry plight. 



562 YAZOO; OR, 

One began the erection of an elegant new residence just 
south of our home — how strangely that contrasts with strong- 
hold — and allowed it to be given out that it was for his con- 
■cubine — a relative of Lizzie's ; another gave money to his ; 
another secretly married his ; another satisfied his with 
promises ; some surrendered all "^ claims " on theirs, while the 
great mass " bided their time." These last were harassed 
nigh unto death by the " insolence " of their concubines, who, 
perceiving their advantage , became stronger supporters than 
ever of Republican principles and of that " miscegenationist, 
Mawgin," while the great mass of the colored men came to 
look upon me as in deed and in truth a Moses, because they 
were now permitted, in addition to all the other blessings 
that had come to them with their freedom, to call their fire- 
aides their own, and to erect within their homes a sacred fam- 
ily altar without imminent peril of desecration and pollution 
from the unholy touch of" superior " white men. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 363 



CHAPTER LVII. 

MARVELOUS PROGRESS OF THE FREED PEOPLE IN THE ART OF 
SELF-GOVERNMENT — REAL CARPET-BAGGERS — HOW THEY CAME 
TO YAZOO, AND WHAT BECAME OF THEM — ANOTHER STRAW FOR 
BRICKS — YAZOO ELECTIONS, 1867 TO 1875 — A DENT TICKET 
FULL-GROWN. 

BUT that which seems to me the most gratifying feature of 
the period of which I am uow writing, is the marvelous 
progress made by the freed people in the art of self-govern- 
ment, I presume that msLnj of my readers — if indeed I shall 
have many — will smile incredulously at this point; they 
have often done so before in the course of this story. That 
-cannot be helped. All have my free consent to smile, to 
laugh, or to cry whenever the mood shall prompt them. This 
is said to be a free country, and I believe in its fundamental 
institutions. But I am digressing, and am reminded that I 
have left only space for facts. 

About the close of our political campaign of 1869, and from 
that on, there were frequent arrivals at Yazoo of persons 
from the North and from adjoining States, all of whom 
brought with them a universal panacea for all the woes of the 
people, " both black and white." Some came " highly rec- 
ommended " to some one or more of the State ofHcial digni- 
taries, othei*8 came bearing no other testimonials than the 
merits of the political nostrums they had to introduce. This 



364 YAZOO ; ok, 

class were of both races, and of all shades of politics, com- 
plexion, calling and employment, or profession. Some openly 
espoused the cause of " the people," and became " good citi- 
zens ; " in other words, Democrats. Others as openly 
espoused the cause of" the people," and became "■ scum " — 
carpet-baggers ; in other words, Republicans. There were 
a few who espoused the cause of " ou' color," and at once 
began to find fault with both Democrats and Republicans. 
One of these was a quite intelligent colored man, whose parents 
had passed through the color crucible at the North and stiU 
felt the pain of the burn. By way of illustrating th3 fact that 
he had inherited their remembrance of Yankee prejudices 
and their secret contempt of the Yankee character, he began ? 
almost immediately upon his arrival at Yazoo, an effort to 
gather the freed people into a separate political organiza- 
tion. To accomplish this purpose, he gravely assured them 
that their liberties did not depend upon the leadership of any 
man or set of men, but upon themselves; that they were 
under no obligations whatever to any person, or to any 
party for their freedom, because freedom was the natural 
state of man, and their emancipation was evidence merely 
that the country had come to the point of recognizing the 
fact. The obligation, therefore, was all on the other side, 
and could not be discharged until the white man, who had 
always lived upon the negro's toil, went a step farther and 
made some sort of restitution. According to his philosophy, 
the fact that the freedom and citizenship of the negro had 
been put into the Constitution and laws of the country, was 
ample guarantee of its permanence, and, as the colored 
people of Yazoo were largely in the majority, two to one, 
they ought, therefore, to rule. Had he stopped here he might 
have made some headway amongst " ou' color " in Yazoo. 
But he did not, and continued to advance in the unfolding 
of his scheme, until he had openly denounced me as a fraud,, 
and not a true friend to the colored people. Then he fouud it 
to his interest quite suddenly to leave the county, which he: 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 365 

■did, and, returning North, spread the news araonorst "ou' 
<;olor" that the carpet-baggers at the South were not only 
deluding the poor freed people to their ruin, but were an 
intolerable nuisance to the State. In proof of this he cited 
his own case, and declared that I had incited the " poor, 
ignorant freed people," — ray dupes — to drive him away, 
because I feared the presence in the county of " intelligent 
gentlemen of color." 

Now, the truth is I knew nothing of the atiair until long 
afterwards. Then I was able to recollect that about that 
date I had been frequently inquired of concerning colored 
men, strangers, who were holding meetings in the county. 
As they had kept entirely away from me, and as my only 
information of them came from the freed people, I could only 
say that I knew nothing at all about them. If this had 
enraged my friends to such a pitch that they had taken the 
matter into their own hands, I am sure it was not my fault, 
and I declare that I knew nothing at all of the intentions nor 
of the conduct of those frieuds until, as I have said, long 
afterward. There were other aspiring colored young men 
from the North, more wise than those of the class to which 
the one I have mentioned belonged. These came seeking hon- 
orable employment, or waited until they became acquainted 
with the people before they attempted to lead. Several of 
this class became useful citizens, engaged in merchandizing, 
planting or school teaching, and thus grew to be real helps 
in the work of clearing the old ground and in cultivating and 
harvesting the crops that grew upon it. These were recog_ 
nized and preferred by the people according to their merits 
At this time, Mississippi and other Southern States enjoying 
free governments, ottered a tempting field for ambitious and 
worthy young colored men at the North, where nearly all 
the doors to the trades and higher employments, in private as 
well as in public life, were closed against them. I was not 
at all surprised that they came flocking to Mississippi and 
Yazoo. For one I was glad to have them come. If their 



366 YAZOO 5 OR, 

purposes were good, they were not only likely to become helps- 
in our good work, but would be able to achieve any position, 
in public life at least, to which their merits might entitle 
them. Equally with the free schools for demonstrating the 
capacity of the negro, we also needed, as I believed, examples. 
And it seemed to me likely that these examples would more 
readily be found from among the class who had had some 
chance in life, however pinched and narrow, as for a long 
time it was in the North, than from among the freed people 
in the South. Here, where there was free scope for their 
powers, they could grow into a broader manhood and, as I 
sincerely believed, into a broader citizenship. 

Nor was I surprised that some should yield to the tempta- 
tion such a field ottered, to attain personal advancement 
through the strength of mere numbers, rather than by the 
sympathy and support of the best. This tendency was in- 
creased by the sullen, stubborn refusal of the old slave- 
holding class to recognize any of the colored people, male or 
female, as other than natural inferiors; and in some counties 
it became a very great curse, not only to the freed men but 
also to the whites. 

But in Yazoo, colored men from the North found a match 
for themselves in many of the freed people, whose sterling 
good s'ense and practical knowledge of affairs in some measure 
made up for their lack of school training. Our local elec- 
tions afforded ample means for testing these qualities, and 
for Diinging out the comparative merits of the two. North- 
ern colored men, even in Yazoo, had to contend with the 
prejudices of the freed people, which often were as bitter as 
the prejudices of the native whites against "we all Yan- 
kees." So that unless the Northern colored man could make 
his race argument or reasoning in favor of segregation do 
service for him, the freedmau who aspired for leadership was 
likely to carry off the prize. These contests were no less a 
school for me; for they afforded rare opportunities for 
the study of human nature, especially that side of it which 
is the result of the long centuries of race conflict. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 367 

From the first I strove by precept and by example to create 
lines of competition upon a higher plane, and the aftection of 
the freed people, which I enjoyed to the fullest extent, enabled 
me to keep down any serious divisions in our own ranks 
growing out of such contests, or from other causes. One 
Incident alone will illustrate this truth: 

Some Northern colored men, aided secretly by two or three 
disatiected white Republicans, succeeded in gathering together 
some three hundred freed people, in what was termed a 
mass convention. Tt was no doubt designed to build 
up an organized opposition to me, and may have been inspired 
by the enemy, or possibly, by jealous rivals outside of the 
county, I had given the meeting no attention whatever, was 
not present, nor had I prompted any one to represent me. 
Yet, at the moment when the conspirators thought they were 
in full possession of the meeting, an old colored farmer — 
planter is the word used there — got up and, remarking that 
he had not seen me in that convention, said he would like to 
know how many " Morgan men " there were in the house, 
anyway, and at once moved that all Morgan men come 
over on to the right side and stand up, and all others stand 
upon the left side. Friends of mine present at the time^ 
afterward told me that it appeared as though the whole house 
arose as one man , and crossing over stood upon the right 
side. The same fact is also illustrated in another and perhaps 
a better way. In 1867 my mcjority in a total registered vote 
of 3,830, of which in round numbers but 1,800 were cast, was 
1,200. That year " the enemy " not only refused to vote at 
all, but also kept from voting as many of the freed people 
as they could, and the reader will remember, there was no 
Republican organization in the county. In 1868, in a total 
vote cast of 3,306, my majority was 300. 

That was the kuklux year, when the enemy not only voted 
their own entire strength, but also voted as many of the freed 
people as they could bribe, coax, or drive to vote their ticket,. 
and kept from the polls as many as they could by the same 
means induce to remain away. 



368 YAZOO; OR, 

In 1S69, in a total vote cast of 3,457, my majority was 
1,700. 

That was tlie first year of Grant's administration, and when 
the enemy resorted to ths trick of nominating " Genera} 
■Grant's own deab brother-in-law," and " Rube" for the pur- 
pose of deceiving " our nigros " into voting with their old 
masters for their " National Republican " ticket. 

In 1871* I was not a candidate. The term for which I 
had been elected to the Senate would not expire until 1873. 
But the ticket known as the Morgan ticket, was chosen by a 
majority of 1,969, in a total vote cast of 3,963. 

In 1872 Grant and Greeley were the candidates. 

It went somewhat against the grain to vote against Hor- 
ace Greeley, but considering the company in which he was, 
the Republicans could not help comparing that '^movement " 
with our " Dent movement." Indeed, there were those who 
Drofanely declared that the Greeley movement was our Mis- 
sissippi Dent movement full grown. 

Therefore the Grant ticket in Yazoo, like our Republican 
tickets of preceding years, was known also as the Morgan 
ticket. 

In a total vote of 3,300, Grant's majority was 1 500. 

In 1873, in a total vote of 3,100, my majority over my op- 
ponent was 1,900. 

There was no general election in Mississippi in 1874. 

*There was no general election in 1870. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 369 



CHAPTER LVIII. 

FURTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE POLITICAL PROGRESS OF THE 
NEGRO — THE ENEMY SEE A SIGN — MAKING A SHERIFF'S BOND 
— DO ELECTIONS ELECT — RESULTS THAT " OLD BILL ALLEN " 
WHEN HE " ROSE UP " COULD HARDLY HAVE FORESEEN — 
MEETING AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE — ANOTHER " NIGRO RISING " 
— MORGAN IS SHERIFF — DEATH OF MR. BILLIARD. 

THE election of 1873 was in a certain sense the climax in 
our State of -'radical rule," so called by the enemy. It 
was the year when the varied progressive influences converg- 
ing from different and often widely separate centers of 
thought, interest and action, converging upon Mississippi, 
with none other than weapons of truth, met and for a third 
time overcame " the enemy " upon ground of his own choos- 
ing. Up to this time Mr. Hilliard had held the most lucra- 
tive office in the county — that of sheriff and ex-ofRcio tax 
collector — uninterruptedly, or for a period beginning in 1869, 
and continuing more than four years. 

Notwithstanding our disagreement upon the school and 
certain other questions, I had given him a hearty and unfal- 
tering support. I had done this not because of any especial 
personal regard for him, or that he entertained for me, nor 
because I was under any obligations whatever to him, but 
solely because I desired to lay the foundations of our party 
upon a broader basis than mere race lines (which would have 
24t 



370 YAZOO ; OR, 

restricted its membership to the colored people, led by a 
handful of " Yankees "), and believed that an exhibition of 
unfaltering political friendship for Mr. Hilliard would at least 
be accepted by the native whites as evidence of the sincerity 
of my professions in that regard. I had given five years to 
the cause of reconstruction in Yazoo and in the State with- 
out other reward than the consciousness of having done well ;. 
and the empty honors of an office that, while entailing the 
gravest responsibilities upon me and the hardest kind of 
work, did not afford me a personal support. My creditors 
were clamorous for their money, and every one called me a 
fool for giving to others the fruits of my toil and trials instead 
of preserving at least some share for myself. 

The same kind relatives who could not at all understand 
why we had failed on Tobeka, now could not understand 
why I was not yet able to pay my debts. They read in the 
papers that the carpet-baggers were all getting rich, and was 
I not one of that class? Besides, the old ''guard" had 
become dissatisfied with Mr. Hilliard. So had nearly all the 
freed people, who blamed him for not taking a more active 
part in behalf of free schools. Mrs. Hilliard and her 
daughters had become leading members in the leading white 
folks' church, and in Yazoo society. It was said that the 
sheriff* was rich ; that he had saved '^ nigh on to fifty thou- 
sand dollars." 

Eut be that as it may, the time had come when I had 
expected, from the very outset, to ask for my reward. The State 
was reconstructed in all the departments of government, and 
peace and quiet prevailed. 

But my friends among the white Unionists, the Kortherners^ 
and especially the old "guard," together with the great body 
of the freed people, anticipating what would be my wishes in 
the premises, were already using my name as Mr. Hil- 
liard's successur, and when the convention met I was placed 
in nomination for that office by acclamation. It was the 
most intelligent body of Republicans ever assembled in the 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 371 

county. The contrast between it and the first Republican 
convention held in the county waa indeed striking. Every 
one of the delegates had been chosen at numerously attended 
primaries, and nearly all of them could read, and a large 
majority could both read and write. 

There were at least three colored men of the number who 
were worth, in real estate and live stock, not less than ten 
thousand dollars each, all of which they had made at planting. 
There was also quite a "sprinkling" of native whites, 
among them planters, merchants, and one lawyer, all of 
whom had been slave-holders. I could not but felicitate 
myself on the fact, that every one of these was my hearty 
supporter and friend, notwithstanding I owned no land yet, 
nor any houses. 

My term had expired in the Senate. I enjoyed no means 
or facilities whatever for influencing either those delegates, or 
the masses who had sent them there, to vote for me, other 
than my name and the memory among them of my services. 
Without money or patronage at my disposal, and with 
convictions of duty respecting party leadership which for- 
bade ray making promises of reward contingent upon ray 
election, at the close of ray four years' term in the Senate, 
I was as powerless to reward friends or to punish foes within 
our party as my baby boy, then two years old. 

But though Mr. Foote was a warm advocate of Mr. Ilil- 
liard's re-election, he, together with the official membership 
of the A. M. E. Church which had got a foothold in Ya- 
zoo too,* had been for weeks engaged in canvassing the 
county in Mr. Hilliard's interest, supplied, as was at the time 
openly proclaimed and well known, with '• ample funds " for 
all manner of expenses, it all failed, and, as the denizens of 
Yazoo City will remember to this day, the shout that went up 
from the convention upon the vote nominating me, " nearly 
lifted the roof from the court-house," as everybody said. 

*Upon the close of the campaign of 1S60, tlie irreconcilablcs surtflenly became especial 
admirers of Mr. Foote, often contrasted him with "them low down Yankees, and 
always to the disparagement of the Yankees. This, with the prejudiees he already 
possessed, together with the tendency of his church to segregation had great influence 
upon him, and by 1873, he was an avowed advocate of a party that should be made up 
of " Southerners and ni^ros," to the exclusion of " Northerners." 



372 YAZOO; OR, 

And it gives me pleasure to record here that it did not cost 
me any promises nor an}' money at all, except the personal 
expenses of myself while travelling to and fro to attend the 
primaries. It also gives me pleasure to add that although 
my share of the expenses of the campaign from first to last 
for tickets, for travelling and all other expenses, did not exceed 
one hundred dollars ; although I made no canvass at all 
among the people, and but one speech during the cam- 
paign which followed the nomination ; although upon the day 
of the election and for several days before I had been ill in 
bed and under the care of a physician, and although " the 
enemy " made Mr. Milliard their candidate and placed upon 
their ticket with him for all the county offices and many of 
the district offices none bat colored men, my majority over 
him was nearly two thousand in a vote of thirty-one hun- 
dred. 

The truth is that theirreconcilableshad all along intended 
to use Mr. Hilliard for my overthrow. To this purpose was 
due the social eminence to which his family so suddenly 
attained, and the heart} support of their organ, the Democrat. 

The result made them very mad indeed ; for they now 
had to carrv a double dose of '' niorro rule. " The first was at 
Dover, when they saw with their own eyes that the freedman, 
free negro and mulatto dared shoot to kill. The next was 
now, when they realized that I had not misjudged the negro, 
and that he was capable of not only feeling but also of ex- 
pressing gratitude. 

But all of a sudden, certain of them professed to have 
had a revelation. It was in the election news from Ohio. 
"Old Bill Allen " had " done riz up," and Ohio had gone Dem- 
ocratic! Seeking for the cause of this change, they discovered 
that in June, 1873, a new departure in politics was taken when 
the Democratic convention in Allen County, of that State, 
passed resolutions declaring that corruption in political par- 
ties had become chronic, and that " both political parties have 
demonstrated that they are powerless to check or control the 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 373 

existins^ tendency toward the utter demoralization of the 

politics of the country," also that a convention had been held 

at Columbus and participated in by both Democrats and 

Liberals. It had — 

" Tiesolved, That we insist upon a strict adherence by the General 
Government to the constitutional limitations of its power, and we 
demand home government in all local affairs." 

Also, that a Democratic State convention followed, which 
nominated William Allen for governor, and — 

"J?esoZi-ecZ, That the Democratic party seeks to revive no dead issues, 
but stands by its principles, which are suited to all times and circum- 
stances. * * * 

"It defends the reserved rights of the States and of the people, and 
opposes the centralization that would impair or destroy them." 

Mr. Allen's majority was but about 800. Under ordinary 
circumstances, the fact could have had no particular signifi- 
cance in the South. But the circumstances were extraordi- 
nary. The convention in Allen County where the " Ohio 
movement" originated, was a Democratic departure. The 
excuse for it and for the Liberal convention which followed, 
sprang from a wide-spread disgust of the corrupt practices, 
apparent in both the great political parties at the North. The 
"bloody shirts" of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Lou'siana, 
and other Southern States, had frequently been unfurled and 
made to do service in Northern elections for the Republicans, 
until thousands of the most conscientious and enlightened 
members of the party thought they saw in every one of them 
— of those " bloody shirts " — a trick by thieves for the perpet- 
uation of their opportunity to rob the country through the chan- 
nels of politics. The investigations which had followed in New 
York and other cities, in States and in Congress, had uncovered 
to the country the fact that corruption did prevail to an alarm- 
ing extent in both parties. Some traced the cause to the war, 
others traced it back to "Federal interference" in States at the 
South, while there were those who declared that the root of 
the matter was in the extension of the suffrage, so as to include 
the negro. Taking advantage of this feeling, a man of 



374 YAZOO ; OR, 

undoubted personal and political sincerity and integrity, was 
brought to the front in Ohio and placed upon a platform, 
which, while it embraced a plank covering the grievances of 
Republicans, also embraced planks which met the demands of 
extreme and irreconcilable Democrats everywhere, South as 
well as North. 

The fact was, that many voted for the man, without regard 
to the platform upon which he stood, as a protest against the 
corrupt tendencies of the times. That elected him. This 
result was accepted by the irreconcilables in Yazoo as proof 
that the day of their deliverance from what they still called a 
'' carpet-bag negro usurpation " was at hand. For was not 
Ohio a " hot-bed of abolitionism," the " home of Giddings," 
the very " backbone of radical power " at the North ? 

So they talked to each other while they shook hands and 
congratulated themselves ; so they talked to the freed peo- 
ple, while felicitating themselves on the prospect that after 
all the time was not a great way off when they should be 
again able to "whip a nigger;" so some of them jocularly said 
to me while good humoredly inviting me to "read the 
hand-writing on the wall." I insisted that they were mis- 
taken ; that tile result was a protest against corruption, not 
against our Mississippi nor our Yazoo government; at which 
they would remind me of that resolution of the Liberals 
favoring "home government " and protesting against Federal 
usurpations of power. But, pointing to our majorities, I 
would always reply, " what is ours but home government — 
the rule of the majority ?"' Notwithstanding all the progress 
we had made, all the examples we had afforded of the capacity 
of the negro for self-government, their response to this was 
always a kind of grin accompanied with a look which said, 
^^ Morgan, you may be honest, but you're green," and a final 
word, which was rarely more than " yo'li see." 

Notwithstanding the fact that my candidacy for the sheriff's 
office meant an increase of taxes for school purposes, largely 
increased facilities for the education of the children of the 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 375 

freed people, and was a rebuke to Mr. Hilliard and his sup- 
porters for their neglect of this cause, out of a total registered 
' white vote " of more than fifteen hundred and of a total 
vote cast of thirty-one hundred and thirty-seven, he received 
but four hundred and thirty-one, while I received twenty-three 
hundred and sixty-five. The fact is I received nearly, if not 
quite, as large a number of white votes as he.* The Grange 
organization in the county was at that time in the zenith of 
its power and I know that the head of that organization and 
many of its members voted for me. The bond which the sheriff 
was by law required to make was in the sum of $20,000; that 
which I was required to make as tax collector ran the amount 
up to $105,000. 

It was understood that none but owners of real estate 
property could lawfully qualify on that bond. Before the 
election I had received every assurance that I should have no 
trouble on thatdcore. So, as soon as the election was ovei,I 
set out to make it. But from the very outset I met the secret 
and sometimes open hostility of the leading irreconcilables, 
who often made personal appeals to such as were disposed to 
become my sureties not to do so, and succeeded in some 
instances in persuading others who had already qualified as 
sureties to withdraw. But there was another surprise in 
store for " the enemy." 

Learning of these difficulties freedmen owning real estate 
promptly signed, qualified and became my sureties. The 
result was very gratifying to me, for it discovered to all the 
fact that the freed people of Yazoo were indeed making sub- 
stantial progre3s. Had I wished to have done so i could have 
made the entire amount of the bond with perfectly solvent 
colored men for sureties. But that was contrary to my ideas 
of good policy. There were perfectly solvent white men, 
merchants and planters, already on it for considerable sums, 
and for many reasons I preferred they should remain. 

When the bond was complete and the time provided by 

♦There were some three hundred scattering votes. 



376 YAZOO ; or, 

law for me to qualify and enter upon the duties of my office 
had arrived, I appeared before the proper officer, took the 
oath of office required by law and made the usual personal 
notice to Mr. Hilliard. He then for the first time informed 
me that he had resolved not to surrender the office to me. 
The only court then in session in the county was our board 
of supervisors. That body held its sessions in the court-house, 
and had, by law, absolute control of the county buildings. The 
room in which the sheriff had his office was also in the court- 
house. It was the duty of the sheriff, either in person or by 
deputy, to attend all sessions of the board. Mr. Hiliard was 
then in attendance upon the board. Prepared with the cer- 
tificate of the proper officers, showing my election to the 
office by the people,* showing also the record of my bonds 
and of my oath of office, and that the day had arrived when 
by law the term of the incumbent, Mr. Hiliard, should expire, 
and when I should become the lawful sheriff, and, showing 
that I was the lawful sheriff, I went before that body and 
demanded to be recognized by them as sheriff" in fact. It 
was at this juncture that Mr. Hiliard appeared with counsel, 
and asked that I be not recognized. Upon the hearing before 
the board, it was legally established that Mr. Hiliard, had given 
me no notice whatever of his intention to contest my right 
to the office ; that he had not filed in any court any notice 
whatever of contest ; that he did not deny my election, and 
that the only ground upon which he attempted to defend his 
refusal to turn over to me the keys of the office room, was the 
fact that a legal question was pending in the Supreme Court 
of the State, involving the legality of the election. 

* Following is a true copy of that certificate : 
" To all whom it may concern : 

We, the undersigned, registrars of Yazoo County, Jlississippi, duly appointed by the 
commissioners thereof, certify that at an election held in said county, in accordance 
•with the provisions of the general election law of 1871, two thousand seven hundred 
and ninety-six (2,79(i) votes were cast for the office of sheriff, of which 

A. T. Morgan received 2,365 

F. P. Hiliard received 431 

Making a majority in favor of A. T. Morgan of 1,934 

And we therefore declare him to be elected to that office. 

R. W. Lewis, 
Geo. M. Powell, 

Heffistrars. 
Yazoo City, Ko^'cmher 7, 1873. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 377 

Mr. Hilliard, his counsel, and the board at the time 
well knew that the question pending in the Supreme Court 
involved only the legality of the election for State officers, 
and had no relation whatever to county officers. Mr. Hil- 
liard and all the rest knew that by the Constitution and laws 
his term was for but two years, and that that term expired 
that very day. So the board decided, and therefore declared 
that I was the sheriff, in law and in fact, and they commanded 
me to attend them at their sessions, thus dismissing Mr. 
Hilliard.* 

One of the arguments presented by his counsel at that 
hearing fairly illustrates the animus of their entire pro- 
ceeding. That counsel stated that certain rumors had come 
to his ears to the etfect that I had threatened, if Mr. Hilliard 
should refuse to turn over the keys of his office to me, to 
send to the country for the colored people — even ho. called 
them colored people now — to come to town, when I would 
use them for an assault upon the building. And then he 
begged the board to consider what might be the conse- 
quences of such an act. " For," as he declared, *' our people 
are not yet prepared to tolerate that method of asserting 
one's right to an office," and the result might be a bloody 
conflict — " a war of races." 

Now, four years had passed since that alarm was last heard 
in Yazoo. Its revival, considering all the circumstances, 
awakened some laughter. But Mr. Hilliard and his coun- 

* That order was as foUows : 

Minnies of the Board of Supervisors. 

Tuesday, January 6, 1874. 

A. T. Morgan presented to the board his certificate of election as sheriff' of Yazoo 
County, Mississippi, also the certificate of the clerk of the chancery court of the 
county, that said Morgan's bonds, as sheriff and tax collector, were duly tiled in his 
office, examined, and approved by him on the 5th day of January, instant, and that 
he did, on said day, administer to said Morgan the oath of office, as prescribed by law ; 
whereupon it was — 

Ordered, That this board do recognize the said A. T. Morgan as the only person legally 
entitled to exercise the fumctions and perform the duties of the ofticeof slierilf of Yazoo- 
County, and that said sheriff (Morgan) is hereby ordered and required to attend this 
and all future meetings of this board, and to execute and obey all its orders and 
decrees. 

Ordered, That the board be adjourned until to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock. 

S. G. Bedwell, President. 
J. M. Dickson, Clerk. 

By J. T. Russell, Deputy Clerk. 



378 . YAZOO -, OR, 

sel treated the "rumor" as a very serious matter, indeed, 
and Mr. Hilliard was called upon to relate what he knew 
about the threats. When he had finished, it appeared that 
all he knew about it was what some one else had told him of 
what some colored man had been heard to say would 
happen, in the event that an eflbrt should be made to keep me 
out of the office to which everybody knew I had been legally 
and in fact elected. 

Being permitted to do so, I stated to the board that not 
only had I not made any threats, but that I had taken legal 
advice as to the means I ought to employ in the event of 
Mr. Hilliard's refusal to turn over to me, and my counsel was 
present. I did not deem it necessary to say that I should 
not resort to the means suggested, but, if any doubt remained 
in the minds of Mr. Ililliard and his counsel, I would assure 
them all that I should not do so. 

This ^' rumor" of "threats" awakened in me and in at 
least one member of the board memories of an almost for- 
gotten era. And 1 found myself recalling the fact that this 
counsel of Mr, Hilliard was the same who had appeared for 
*' Mars' Si," the same who had been "counsel for the State " 
when Charles was tried on a certain memorable occasion, and 
who then was one of the Grand Cyclops of Yazoo. During 
the five years that had passed since Grant's election, we had 
often met, and on friendly terms. He had on at least two 
occasions not been able to withhold his meed of praise for 
duty well performed by me. But — 

Well, I must be brief. Mr. Hilliard promptly yielded to 
the order of the board so far as to " withdraw," and I was at 
once installed in his place. That evening when he left his 
office room and went home, he placed three men on guard 
inside it. Under the law he was a trespasser, and I had 
undoubted authority to arrest him and hold him as such. 

Had he made any formal contest, no matter how absurd the 
grounds of it might have been, it would have been difl'erenl. 
He had made no contest at all formal, or otherwise, except 
to appear before the board as I have related. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 379 

I appointed some deputies and continued all the next day 
to act as sheriff for the board (whose sessions would continue 
for some days, it being a regular stated meeting) and for the 
county. That night a friend of Mr. Hilliard brought me 
direct from him an offer of $5,000 to allow him to remain in 
the office thirty days longer. This was in amount the same 
as the offer of Captain Telsub on a former occasion. 

Considering the fact that in 1869 I had declined the office 
and secured his appointment to it ; that I had warmly sup-, 
ported him for a re-election to it ; that I had shared in none 
of the proceeds of it ; that he had achieved financial indepen- 
dence by it ; that I owned no land yet nor houses ; that he 
knew thoroughly my feelings and my views respecting the 
uses for which party advantages should be employed ; and 
thoroughly well knew that I meant to be honest with the 
colored people, to whose fidelity mainly I owed my election, 
and also knew that I was pledged by inclination, by my 
record and by the issues of our preliminary canvass, to use 
the patronage of the office for the encouragement of a more 
liberal policy toward the freed people ; considering the fact 
that my acceptance of such an offer at such a time would 
have at once demonstrated to the colored people that I had 
been false to them, and to every body, that indeed and in 
truth I was a " fool or a knave;" considering such an offer 
from him to me; considering this outrage, I became exas- 
perated. It was impossible for me to sleep that night, only 
by " fits and starts." All night long I kept revolving in my 
mind what had I done to cause this man to have so low an 
opinion of my judgment, as for a moment to suppose that I 
would fail to see that ni}^ acceptance of his offer would not 
only deprive me of the office forever, but also would forever 
blast my name ; or that he should for a moment suppose that 
seeing this I could be such a dastard as to accept such a fate 
for such a consideration. I had accepted the jeers, the scorn, 
the blows of the enemy during the reign of the kuklux. But 
that was in behalf of a cause that had made Mr. Hilliard 



380 YAZOO OR, 

sheriff and, as everybody said, a rich man ; that was when 
Mr. Hilliard, " the poor Unionist " came by the back yard to 
our " stronghold " to sympathize with its " Uttle garrison." 
This was now, when Mr. Hilliard, after having enjoyed the 
flesh-pots from our planting until he was fat, and after having 
been fawned upon by the enemy until his family had grown 
vain and proud, and he had lost his head, had become a tool 
for their uses, to the overthrow of Morgan, the destruction 
of our party, and the ruin of our cause. I bore in my heart 
no malice toward Mr. Hilliard, not one whit. The thing 
about it which most tried me was the illustration it afforded 
of the effect of the enemy's superior means for regaining the 
control in affairs which they had so reluctantly surrendered 
in 1869. 

My wakefulness greatly worried my poor wife, who 
'' couldn't understand it at all." I had taken the liberty, 
which so many husbands take, to keep the worst of the bad 
news from her. What could it mean ? What had happened ? 
Was I not the sheriff ? Had I not been installed in oifice by 
the only court then in session in the county ? Was there to 
be any further trouble? I explained as best I could, and 
yet, though she is a rather quick-witted woman, she still 
failed to see. The only thing about it was that Mr. Hilliard 
still kept the keys of the sheriff's office and had men on 
guard over the room. 

I couldn't tell her all the particulars. It would take too 
long, and I meant to get a little sleep if I could. But she 
persisted in her desire to know what was the matter. 

" Were there any questions remaining unsettled ? " 

" No, none." 

" Well, then, what is the matter ? " 

" Nothing, only Mr. Hilliard still holds the keys of the 
sheriff's office and has guards over the room." 

" How can he do that ? " 

" He does it." 

" Does he dispute your election ? " 

" No." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 381 

" Well, then, what is the matter ? " 

And so every attempt to solve the mystery left us at the 
point where she began. 

Our baby girl was not well that night and so what with 
the office and the child neither of us felt very much refreshed 
when daylight came. Carrie had proved a true wife and 
was worthy of my fullest confidence. But it seemed that I 
could not tell her everything. 

That morning I went to the court-house earlier than 
usual, and went to the sheriff's room. The door was open 
and no one in except a young man, Mr. Milliard's nephew. 
Walking in I informed him that 1 was the sheriff of the 
county and should remain in the office. He might, if he 
pleased bear my message to Mr, Hilliard, to come and get 
any personal effects he might have there. Without making 
any resistance at all the young man withdrew, and left the 
building. 

Less than two hours afterward Mr. Hilliard was a corpse, 
and one of my deputies so badly wounded, that fears were 
entertained for a long time that he would not recover. But 
he did. 



382 YAZOO; OR, 



CHAPTER LIX. 



THE MANNER OF IT — HALTING TO PAY TRIBUTE TO HEROIC NEGROES 
BEFORE THE DEAD ARE BURIED — 1868 COME AGAIN — THE PART 
THE HUMAN HDRNET TOOK IN IT — THAT YAZOO JAIL IN 1874. 



THE death of Mr. Hilliard occurred in this manner : He 
was at home when informed that I had entered, and 
with my deputies was in full possession of the sheriff's office 
room. It was said that he became very much excited and 
ran down town to the ofHce of his attorney, with whom 
he held a hasty consultation. Meantime quite a number 
of his personal and political followers gathered upon the 
street near by. From these and from others who were 
summoned by him a crowd, estimated by some to number 
twenty and by others twenty-five, was hastily formed for the 
avowed purpose of " recapturing " the room. During this 
time Mr. Foote, still a strong partisan of Mr, Hilliard, came 
to the office. Finding me and my deputies in quiet posses- 
sion, he became very greatly excited and cursed some of my 
men, so that to avoid him, the ofiice door was closed against 
him. Then he rang the court-house bell and went away. 

The point where Mr. Hilliard formed his men was two 
squares distant and around a corner, so that the first knowl- 
edge I had of their purpose was his a[ipearance at the head of 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FEEEDOM. 38S 

the street upon which was the court-house, in front of hi& 
followers, hurrying toward us and presenting a most violent 
array. Seeing this some of the citizens scampered away. 
Others remained. There was no time for consultation, even 
for thinking, for in a moment they would be at the court- 
house. My first impulse sprang from a desire to preserve 
the peace and to save my brother William and my friends 
and deputies who remained, numbering six persons all told, 
from violence. Instantly acting upon it, I ordered them all 
within the room, to close and bolt the door from the inside, 
and to remain there, no matter what happened. 

Then I started alone to meet the crowd, and meeting them 
halfway, calling Mr. Hilliard by name, in aloud voice, I 
warned him that I was the sheriff; that I had possession of the 
office ; that I had left my deputies in charge of it, and that he 
should halt. Mr. Hilliard not only saw me, but he must have 
heard me, for I was almost in front of him. But he refused 
to halt, and hastening his speed kept on. Then I made the 
same announcement to his followers, some of whom also 
heard me, for they hesitated. But Mr. Hilliard turned and 
sbouted to them to follow him. which they did. While thus 
endeavoring to halt the crowd, they all passed by me. 
It was now impossible for me to regain the court-house ahead 
of them, so I followed, hoping that when they should reach 
the office, finding it closed against them, they would wait for 
me. But they did not, and Mr. Hilliard and some of his 
friends violently forced open the door, breaking the pannel, 
and one of them fired into the room. The shot w^as returned 
from the inside. At that moment I reached the steps leading 
into the main hall of the building (the same steps over which 
Hilliard and his party had passed an instant before), saw him 
reeling away from the now open office door, and was met 
with a blinding flash and crushing noise.* But the " bull " 
had opened, and when it ended, which could not have been 
more than five minutes afterward (it did not seem more than 

*Made more so from tlie fact that the shots were fired from within tlie building. 



884 YAZOO ; OR, 

one), I had cleared the court-house and yard of the last one 
of them, except my former friend, who lay bleeding and 
senseless upon the floor of the hall, near the front door, where 
he fell. 

Right here, and before stopping to grieve over the fate of 
Mr. Hilliard, even before we stop to mark the grave of civil 
peace, which is worth more than human life, because human 
liberty cannot be without it, I gladly tarry to do an act of 
simple justice to the negro. Three of the men in that room 
when I left it were negroes. I had not gone ten steps on 
my way to meet the angrily advancing crowd, ■\vhen I was 
followed by one of these who, as I was afterward told by 
others in the room, could not be restrained from following 
me, and declared that I should not go alone to meet them. 
That " nigro " followed me all the way and was close at my 
side throughout the conflict. My deputy on the inside who 
was wounded and who, in spite of it stood up like a man to 
the last, was also a " nigro." The only one of Mr. Hilliard's 
friends who stood by him with fldelity and who was the last 
man to leave the court-house, was " that nigro Foote." The 
last one of Mr. Hilliard's bourbon allies ran almost at the 
first fire; some of them in their haste cleared the high iron 
picket fence of the yard at one bound. When it w^as over, 
my first thought was for Mr. Hilliard and my wounded 
deputy, and I promptly dispatched a messenger for surgical 
aid. But before this duty had been accomplished I was noti- 
fied that a complaint of some sort had been made against 
me before the mayor. I promptly inquired of that oflicer 
what the nature of the complaint was, and was informed that 
it was murder. 

Now the mayor, a Southerner and ex-slaveholder, had been 
an avowed Republican for but about three years. He had 
been elected by Republicans ; he had all along been my 
friend. He knew as every lawyer and man of intelligence in 
the town well knew, that such a charge could not be sus- 
tained against me unless it could be shown that I was not 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 385 

sheriff, and they all equally well knew that instead of arraign- 
ing me on such a charge, the persons who inspired Mr. Hil- 
liard, while not denying my election, to hold on to that room, 
and after I was in peaceable possession, to make the attack, 
and also those who accompanied him were the guilty persons. 
They also knew that it would be my dutj to arrest all of them. 
But at the moment of receiving this information, 1 was 
informed that certain irreconcilables, members of the bar and 
others, were "in consultation." Profound quiet prevailed, 
however. The angry crowd of Ililliard's followers seemed 
to have wholly disappeared. 

There were very few colored men astir, none at all from 
the country, more than on any other day, and so far as I could 
see or hear, while remaining at the office of the mayor 
engaged in preparing for my answer to this charge of mur- 
der, thpre were no signs of further violence. 

During the period witnesses to the assault by the Hilliard 
party made formal complaint before the mayor against lead- 
ing members of that party, and very soon thereafter, several 
of the most violent of the irreconcilables of the surrounding 
country made their appearance upon the streets and at the 
mayor's office, and rumors were soon spread about of their 
purpose to lynch me. During the period of this delay at 
the mayor's office, I retained two of the most prominent 
members of our bar, together with our Republican State 
Senators for my defense. My relations with these gentlemen 
had never been other than friendly. 

As to the Senator, I had advocated his nomination and 
election to be my successor in the State Senate against a 
Northerner of certainly equal abilities and merits, there- 
by bringing upon my own head the wrath of that North- 
erner and of all his friends within and without the county. 
But he had also been one of my heartiest supporters against 
Mr. Hilliard in the same political canvass; had rendered me 
valuable aid in the preparation of my bonds as sheriff and 
tax collector, and had, up to that moment, been my friend 
25y 



386 YAZOO ; OB, 

and confidant in all my plans relative to obtaining possession 
of the office. Therefore, I could have no reason to doubt 
his fidelity to me. 

He and the other two were native citizens of the South, 
old residents of the county and ex-slaveholders. There 
were no other reasons known to me why I should not give 
them the fullest confidence as my counsel. I could not doubt 
them because they were Southerners, and had been slave- 
holders. To have done so would have betrayed a want of 
confidence in the political policy which I had always advo- 
cated that I did not in fact feel. I know that at least two 
of my counsel had opposed Mr. Hilliard's election. They 
all knew that my election, so nearly unanimous, had 
been sup})orted by a large and respectable portion of the 
property class as well as by the freed people almost en masse. 
None of them had any doubts as to my legal rights in the 
premises nor as to my legal status. 

Yet these my three counsellors unanimously agreed that 
mine should be the first case tried, advised that I should 
waive a hearing before the mayor and, standing committed 
as of course, at once apply for a v.'rit of habeas corpus return- 
able before the chancellor, who would be present in a day 
or two to hold his court, and let the case go there. This struck 
me as being very peculiar advice, under the circumstances, 
and I inquired what reasons they had for not preferring that 
the cases of the assaulting party be first tried, especially as 
the questions involved were the same in all the cases so far 
as they related to my official status. The only reply I re- 
ceived to this was, that reports were spread that I " delib- 
erately and wantonly shot down Mr. Hilliard while he was 
powerless to defend himself," and these reports were creat- 
ing great excitement among Mr. Hilliard's friends. 

To undertake to arrest and try them first might result in 
a further breach of the peace, whereas, on the other hand, 
should I promptly respond to the charge against me, and 
submit to a public trial, where all the facts would be brought 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 387 

out, the eft'ect could be hardly otherwise than to allay ex- 
<iitement, prevent any further violence, and result in secur- 
ing justice to all concerned. 

It might occasion some inconvenience to myself, but that 
would doubtless be only temporary. 

Of course I desired, above all, to preserve the peace, and 
while the course they advised was no less than a surrender of 
zuy case, because it was yielding to the mob-spirit at the 
bottom of the whole proceeding upon the part of the Hilliard 
party, I could not fail to see that no matter what my rights 
and my jmriLf/cs might be, I could not hope to maintain the 
peace and secure justice for myself, nor to others, without 
the support of the law-abiding portion of the community, 
of whom my counsel on the part of the whites vt^ere fair 
representatives. Therefore, without suspecting either the 
sincerity or the fidelity of my counsel, I submitted myself to 
their advice. 

Then there followed such a revival of the scenes witnessed 
by the little Yankee garrison of Yazoo in 1868 and 1869, as 
speedily transformed the peaceful town of Yazoo City into 
a seething caldron of wai ring political forces. 

The appetite of the irreconcilables for oiJice and power, 
sharpened by more than four years of enforced abstinence, 
overcame their discretion, made them blind to all the pro- 
prieties of the occasion, arrayed them in open defiance of all 
law, and obliterated in their bosoms all sense of justice. 

It would be a day or two before the chancellor arrived. 
During this waiting all manner of rumors were set afloat, all 
calculated to inflame public sentiment against me. The 
•charge that I had wantonly shot down Mr. Hilliard without 
giving him any " show for his life,"* was added to until it 
took on this form : 

" While Sheriff Hilliard was off his guard Morgan stole 
into his oflice and shot him down like a dog." 

Also this other form : 

^' Hilliard was first shot by one of Morgan's nigros. Then, 

*A common phrase in Yazoo. 



388 YAZOO; or, 

while endeavoring in his almost helpless condition to escape 
from the court-house, he was met at the door by Morgan who 
deliberately placed his pistol at the sheriff ^s head and fired 
three shots into him." 

" Shot down in his own office !" some proclaimed. " Be- 
trayed and butchered by the man be had befriended," some 
said. '' First drawn into a trap set by Morgan and then shot 
down without any mercy," some said. "A foul, wanton 
murder !" said all of the irreconcilables. 

The Democrat gave wildly exaggerated accounts of it and 
proved its charge of murder against me by brief statements 
" from eye-witnesses." Then, as if all this was not enough, 
wild rumors were started that the negroes were " about to 
rise," followed by " information just received " that they 
were " coming in to burn the town." 

It then became apparent to me that the leaders among the 
irreconcilables had resolved on taking possession of the county 
government, and were sanguine of their ability to use the 
chancellor in the accomplishment of that purpose. Just how 
they would proceed was not yet quite clear. Neither our Sen- 
ator nor either of my counsel appeared to anticipate any such 
purpose, and the Senator was strong in his belief that it 
could be easily thwarted if it should be found to exist. 

But the result proved the correctness of my judgment. The 
irreconcilables kept their own counsels. The first step to 
their goal lay over Hilliard's dead body. His bitterest ene- 
mies were chief among the mourners at his funeral, and they 
overlooked on that occasion none of the devices known to 
Southern political conspirators for stirring the hearts of " our 
people." There was not in all the county a sincerer mourner 
than I. The occasion was full of bitterness and sorrow to 
me. I could not reproach myself for anything I had done, 
yet it did not seem to me appropriate that I should attend 
the funeral and make a display of my grief. I could not d© 
that. 

No one had doubted that I would remain and stand my 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 389 

'^ trial," and so the committing magistrate — the major — had 
instructed that I be not confined, but allowed to remain at 
my home until the hearing before the chancellor should occur. 
But no sooner had the ceremonies at the grave been con- 
cluded than there arose a demand for my close confinement. 
Major Sweet, Captain Telsub, and the human hornet were 
foremost in giving voice to that demand, and their leaders 
avowed tbat the example of leaving me "■ at large," while 
under the charge of so foul a murder, would prove most 
pernicious. Then there were those who declared that I was 
in open defiance of the laws ; that my manner under the 
charge was full of bravado ; that I was consorting and con- 
spiring with the negroes, and when the rumor was noised 
about that the negroes were coming in to burn the town, 
there were those who professed to have certain knowledge 
that I would lead them in the work of destructiou. So, for 
the sake of peace, and that I might not appear to any one to 
show want of respect for the laws, I voluntarily informed 
the mayor that he need not hesitate to lock me up in the 
jail from any feeling of regard for me. My counsel heartily 
approved my action, and advised the mayor to have me con- 
fined. This was done, but it failed to allay the ''excitement" 
of the enemy, who demanded that my deputies, and all who 
were in the office-room, holding it for me when the Milliard 
party attacked it, should also be arrested and sent to jail; 
and so my deputies were confined in jail with me. 

I had not been shut up in a cell but was allow^ed the free- 
dom of the jailor's apartments. Upon discovering this the 
irreconcilables found in the fact new cause of complaint 
against our Republican officials and insisted that I be locked 
up in a cell. This was done, and very soon afterward the 
discovery was made by the irreconcilables that I was not in 
the murderer's cell but in one of the common cells. 

All the concessions that had been made to the mob spirit 
up to this moment had but inflamed the zeal of its leaders, 
and confirmed their followers in the justice of their demands, 



390 



YAZOO; OR, 



which were often of such a nature as great! j to alarm my 
friends for my safety, and so intimidated the chancellor that 
he appeared to do their will as fully as if he had been one of 
their number. 

During the progress of the " trial " the most violent char- 
acters in all that region hung about the streets of the town,, 
insulting Kepublicans and my witnesses, and making all 
manner of threats against them, against me and against the 
chancellor should he " dare refuse to do his duty." The 
result of it all was that the chancellor refused bail and re- 
turned me to the jail. Then he came to my cell and frankly 
informed me that he had done it to save my life, declaring 
that I would have been killed by the mob had he released 
me. 

But he and all the rest were soon to know for a certainty 
that the *^ excitement" was not due to the ''indignation of 
the people " at the death of Mr. Hilliard but to an entirely 
difterent cause ; for no sooner had the decision been ren- 
dered than there arose a demand for a sheriff, and the chan- 
cellor was appealed to to declare that otEce vacant and ap- 
point one. 

In Mississippi the chancellor has jurisdiction only in " all 
matters of equity, and of divorce and alimony, in matters 
testamentary and of administration in minor's business, and 
allotment of dower, and in cases of idiocy^ lunacy and per- 
sons noyi compos mentis. He could sit as an examining or 
committing magistrate in a criminal cause; but .was not a 
law court. The circuit judge had jurisdiction in all matters 
involving title to a public office; and in all such matters the 
chancellor had no jurisdiction whatever. Under the circum- 
stances, the true sheriff being in jail, the law made it the 
duty of the coroner to act; but this obstacle was speedily re- 
moved. This chancellor promptly granted an order declar- 
ing the coroner's bonds insufficient. Then, under the authority 
conferred upon him by law to appoint an officer to execute 
the process of his court, and to attend its sessions, this same- 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 391 

chancellor assamed that he not only had the authority to do 
SO, but that it was his duty to appoint a sheriff and tax col- 
lector for the county. A strange coincidence was the fact that 
at the moment the chancellor made that discovery there 
appeared before him a man -whom the leaders of the irrecon- 
cilables recommended as in every worthy of the place. In proof 
of his ability to make the bonds required of that officer for 
the faithful performance of his duties, a bond, already pre- 
pared with " good and ample " sureties, was presented to the 
court. 

Now, this applicant, thus recommended and here ready 
in court to assume the robes of office so soon after my "■ in- 
carceralion,*' was none other than the former chairman of the 
County Democratic Committee, one of the irreconcilables ; 
a man in whom the enemy put such trust that, when called 
on to name a member of the board of registrars for the reg- 
istration of voters and for the holding of elections in the 
county, they had chosen him.* He was the same who had 
signed and delivered to me my certificate of election to the 
office, Geo. M. Powell, Having at the beginning yielded to 
the mob spirit, the chancellor was now a slave to the mob; 
so, notwithstanding the Republicans of the county outnum- 
bered the Democrats as two to one, this chancellor appointed 
a trusted leader of the Democrats. 

* Under the law passed by our free State government, both parties were entitled to 
re|5resentation on that board, which was composed of three members. In Yazoo " we 
all" Republicans had always freely accorded to our opponents the privilege of choosing 
for themselves who should represent them on the board. 



392 YAZOO ; or, 



CHAPTER LX. 

A NEGRO " RISING " THAT TOOK EFFECT — WHY THE ^' YOUNG ONE " 
WAS NOT PUT INTO A MURDERER'S CELL — HEROIC CONDUCT OF 
'' OUR NIGROS " — A SECOND " TRIAL " — A RIGHTEOUS JUDGE — 
THE DECISION — A SPECIMEN BRICK FROM THE YAZOO DEMOCRAT 
— PEACE RESTORED — FAWNING IRRECONCILABLES. 

UP to the moment of Mr. Powell's appointment by the 
chancellor, there had been no "rising" of the negroes. 
But now they came pouring into town in large numbers, and 
presented a most defiant attitude. 

The demand of the mob for the appointment of a new 
jailor was immediately complied with by the chancellor's 
new sheriff. But the negroes planted themselves across the 
street just above the jail, and openly and fearlessly pro- 
claimed that the new jailor should not act. Taught by their 
experiences in 1867, 1868 and 1869, the negroes believed that 
all these proceedings pointed directly to the death of myself 
and deputies at the hands of the mob. They had been most 
orderly and patient under all the outrages that led up to 
this, the culminating point; because they had been committed 
under the forms of law. 1 had all the time been in commu- 
nication with them, and had warned them to do no violence. 
But the removal of the jailor, who was friendly to me, and 
the appointment of a successor whom every Republican knew 
to be capable of doing anything that the enemy might re- 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 393 

-quire of him, not only led the colored people to believe, but 
also convinced rae that the ultimate purpose of the irrecon- 
cilables was to lynch us. By the action of the colored people 
at this juncture the situation became extremely critical. 
They were armed only with their hard-wood sticks, excepting 
only a few who had pistols, but the enemy could see that 
they were not only very numerous, but also very determined. 
The chancellor's new sheriff could have summoned his fol- 
lowing and speedily cleared the streets, because they had or 
could quickly procure arms for the purpose. But he hesi- 
tated to do this. The new State government, with Ames at 
its head, was already installed in power. 

The ne^v legislature, having a large Republican majority, 
was in session at Jackson, and the friends 1 had made during 
mj^ service in the constitutional convention and in the State 
senate were devising means to check the " insurrection in 
Yazoo." The human hornet and his friends were anxious 
for leave to ''clear the streets of the nigros," but the chan- 
cellor's sheriff", having assumed the duties of that office under 
color of his appointment, was responsible for the peace. He 
hesitated to attack these negroes, and two whole days were 
spent in efforts to ''pacify them." But they could neither 
be purchased nor cajoled. They firmly refused to allow the 
new^ jailor to act, and thus again, as often before, my life 
was saved by the fidelity and courage of negroes. The enemy 
finding that the colored people could not be moved from their 
purpose, began negotiations looking to my transfer from our 
Yazoo jail to that of some other county. This was finally 
effected and I was secretly taken from the jail and conveyed 
to that of Hinds County, at the capital, which was my own 
selection.' Now the State authorities began to act. The 
chancellor had been appointed to fill a vacancy caused by the 
death of his predecessor. The appointment was withdrawn 
or revoked and another appointed in his place The chan- 
cellor's sheriff" was promptly removed, and the governor 
appointed my brother William to the place, "to continue 



394 YAZOO; or, 

during the disability of the lawful sheriff," myself. The 
chancellor's sheriff for a time resisted, and the human hornet 
and his aids fumed and raved terribly at this new " outrage "■ 
put upon them, but all to no purpose ; for at the expiration 
of two months I was again in full possession of my office. 
My deputies had been released from jail and perfect peace 
reigned throughout Yazoo. A faithful account of the pro- 
ceedings instituted by the State authorities for the overthrow of 
the conspiracy in Yazoo, by which the irreconcilables hoped to 
regain complete control of the county government,* would 
make "mighty interesting reading," I have no doubt, but the 
limits of this narrative will not admit of such an account here. 
I ought, however, not to fail to state here that, though Gover- 
nor Ames' treatment of the case was heroic it was justified 
at all points by the facts and by the law. Also, that I ob- 
tained other legal counsel' and at the conclusion of another 
hearing the chancellor, Hon. Thomas Walton, delivered in 
writing his opinion upon the law and the facts in the case, 
which, after a brief statement of the law, was in the words 
following: 

* * * One of the first points to be settled is, Was Morgan sheriff ? 
It is shown that he had been legally elected and had his certificate of 
election ; that he had given bond as sheriff and collector of State and 
county taxes, and that these bonds had been approved by the proper 
officer. * ♦ * He had also taken the oath of office and he was de 
jure the sheriff of the county. But there is another important cir- 
cumstance. He had been installed in office as the sheriff and officer 
of the only court sitting in the county since his term commenced : the 
board of supervisors. That board is one of our courts. The statute 
makes it the sheriff's duty to attend the sittings and declares him ta 
be its officer, and thus acting under the authority of the law, this 
court had refused to recognize the deceased as its sheriff and officer, 
and had placed the prisoner in that position. He was, therefore, rec- 
ognized as sheriff of the county by the only judicial tribunal sitting 
in the county and competent to act in the premises. Manifestly, if 
there was any sheriff de facto, it must have been the prisoner, and I 
cannot consider that this character was wanting to him in conse- 
quence of his being locked out of the room where the sheriff 's records 

* The conspirators did not stop at their possession of my office, but began proeeed - 
ings looking to the ouster of all the priucipal officers of tlie county. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 395- 

were kept, and illegally deprived of their custody. Tliis room is in 
popular language ordinarily called the sheriff "s office, but the posses- 
sion of this room by no means carries with it the possession of the 
sheriff's office. The sheriff, it is true, has the right to such posses- 
sion, and it is his duty to take possession of such room. Morgan did' 
so in this case. Whether he did so by lawful or unlawful means it is 
not necessary to decide. * * * i must, therefore, consider the 
prisoner not only as the sheriff de jure, but as duly sworn, duly bonded, 
duly installed in office as the officer of the only court in session, and 
as in possession of the records and sheriff 's room ; a possession which 
whetlier properly obtained or not, was bound to continue. He was^ 
in short, the sheriff de facto as well as dejure. As such he was bound 
to preserve the peace and keep off intruders from the court-house and 
prevent trespasses upon it. 

After he had thus established himself in his office, the deceased 
took the advice of counsel as to how he should recover the room. He 
was advised to collect a body of citizens, to go and remonstrate with 
the prisoner for taking possession of the office, and demand its res- 
toration to the deceased. If Morgan refused to give it up, Hilliard 
was advised then to adopt legal proceedings for its recovery. He did. 
collect some fifteen or twenty persons. But, instead of taking the 
advice given him by counsel, he made an attack on the court-house, 
and broke open the sheriff's door. He was met, with his attendants, 
some fifty yards from the court-house, by Morgan, wlio proclaimed tO' 
the crowd that he was sheriff, that he was in possession of the sheriff's 
office, and that they must keep away from the court-house. This the 
prisoner was required to do by the peremptory terms of the statute. 
His injunctions were disregarded. The throng hurried by him, the 
deceased crying out to them to follow him, and rushing rapidly toward 
the court-house, without regard to the advice he had received only a 
f ew moments before from his counsel, to remonstrate with the prisoner. 
At this point it is well to remember that the deceased had been nego- 
tiating with the prisoner, and offering him money to be allowed to 
bold the office for thirty days. The deceased, it is testified, confessed 
that he knew the law was against him in his contest for the office; but 
he was negotiating and offering to pay for time. Morgan must have' 
felt, in view of this state of things, that the deceased was actuated by 
an unlawful purpose. Knowing this, he saw him with a large crowd- 
rushing upon the court-house in an hour of great excitement, and in 
utter disregard of the true sheriff's injunctions to keep away from 
that building. Morgan turned and followed this crowd to the court- 
house * * * * . Morgan was an ofiicer of the peace; he had com- 
manded it; bound to keep off intruders from the court-house; he had 
warned them off ; bound to suppress affrays; here was a most violent 
affray for him to suppress, and the statutes are now, as the commoa 



396 YAZOO ; OR, 

law has always been, that the sheriff may even justify killing, if nec- 
essary for suppressing an affray. The same is the law of riot, and here 
was undoubtedly a riotous attack upon the court-house. Hilliard was 
the ringleader. With his own hands he had just broken the door — 
his attendants had opened fire. He was advancing on Morgan— one 
of his attendants was still firing; how should Morgan know whether 
this advance of Hilliard was not a hostile advance ? How should he 
know that Hilliard, as witnesses state, was seeking to escape ? There 
were two other escapes equally convenient, one behind the stairway, 
and one through the other end of the hall. If he came upon Morgan, 
instead of choosing these other escapes, while Foote, his companion, 
was still firing, how should Morgan know that this advance was peace- 
able? It is said Hilliard did not fire. But he led this movement, 
which was undoubtedly a violent breach of the peace. He had Foote 
with him in that unlawful movement, and Foote was firing all the time; 
and Hilliard being engaged in the act, Morgan must have been in 
great difticulty to distinguish nicely at which of these men, both en- 
gaged in this violent act, to strike. It would be a hard case to hold a 
sheriff for murder, even though he killed a man under these circum- 
stances, when the law makes it his duty to act, and to act with 
promptness and determination. Nor does the law put so severe a 
construction upon the conduct of its ofiicers whom it charges with 
the duty of compelling men to keep the peace. It is the settled doc- 
trine that, though an officer in striving to suppress an affray or riot, 
should exceed the bounds of propriety, and kill a man unlawfully, the 
law is slow to impute to him tliat malice which constitutes the crime 
of murder. A sheriff may no doubt be guilty of murder in suppress- 
ing an affray, but the law in such a case requires clear proof of malice, 
and does not rest in the presumption that the killing was malicious, 
and was therefore murder. There ceitainly was no such proof in this 
case, and I am satisfied that in no event could the prisoner be held for 
any crime greater than manslaughter. In the entire absence of any 
evidence of malice on the prisoner's part, it is impossible to suppose 
that when Hilliard, in the midst of this terrific combat, made his 
advance on the position where Morgan stood. Morgan could have shot 
him with the belief in liis mind that Hillliard was at that moment 
non-combatant. Acting as an officer, without evidence of malice, it 
is incredible that he should thus slay a recognized fugitive. Yet, if 
he had done so, it would not always be murder : for if in the heat of 
such violence the officer kills, even after resistance ceases, it has been 
adjudged to be only manslaughter, in the absence of proof of malice; 
the law, in order to preserve the public peace, being compelled to in- 
dulge every presumption in favor of an officer striving to suppress 
violence. 
1 must, therefore, bail the prisoner. I have deemed it proper to put 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 397 

this opinion in writing, because Judge Drennan's conclusions were 
different. It is proper to add, however, that new witnesses, not ex- 
amined before him. have testified before me, as I am informed by 
counsel.* 

During this troubled period, many well-meaning and very 
worthy persons, in the county and outside of it, who knew 
me only by reputation , an d some who kn e w me personally, were 
drawn into an attitude of open hostility to me through the 
gross misrepresentations of the Democrat, and of those irrecon- 
cilables who expected to profit by my overthrow. 

Throughout the State the criticisms of the press and of 
prominent irreconcilables upon my conduct and upon the con- 
duct of the governor, in the measures taken by him for the 
restoration of order in the county, had been most severe and 
reckless. 

Chancellor Walton had been for years at the head of the 
law department of Oxford University, His reputation for in. 
tegrity and superior legal qualifications was equal to that of 
any lawyer in the State. Up to this moment he had enjoyed 
the esteem and confidence of the "best citizens" of Missis- 
sippi, lie was a courageous, just man; but by this act, re- 
leasing me from jail, he at once became a target for the 
malice of the irreconcilables. 

Ames being governor, and the important offices of the 
county having been by his firm policy ren.oved from the 
reach of the starving sleuth-hounds of slavery, there was no 
longer anything to tempt the irreconcilables of Yazoo to 
violence ; and therefore. Chancellor Walton had been able 
to conduct the examination in an orderly and lawful manner, 
by which the testimony taken upon the hearing was submitted 
to writing, and was subaequently published. Then there 
came a revolution in public feeling toward me, the governor, 
and the chancellor; which also found expression through the 
press. 

The following, from the Jackson Clarion, (Democratic,) a 
paper edited and published then as now by Mr. Ethel Barks- 

*For this decision in full, see report of Select Committee of the United States Senate, 
on Mississippi Election of IST.'S, vol. 2, pp. 177!t, 1780 and 17S1. 



^98 YAZOO ; OR, 

•dale, present member in Congress from that district, will 
serve to illustrate the extent as well as the character of this 
change : 

" Having read tlie testimony and tlie statements of both sides, we 
have never been able to reach the conclusion that Morgan w as not 
•entitled to bail, even if he did the killing, about which there seemed 
to be some doubt." 

Also, the following from the Liberty Herald (Democratic) : 

" A great hue and cry has been raised against Walton on account of 
his decision to admit Morgan to bail, but after a careful investigation 
of the testimony we cannot see how Walton could well have decided 
otherwise." 

As ilkistrating the methods employed by the irreconcilables 
to obstruct the course of justice in Yazoo at all times, the 
following is but one of many specimens : A young man of 
the town named Massey swore that he saw Mr. Hilliard 
endeavoring to escape by the front door of the building after 
the firing commenced, and that he appeared to be non-com- 
batant. At that instant, he said, I deliberately placed my 
pistol at Mr. HiUiard's head and fired. Our county assessor, 
Mr. Morrin, swore that he was upon the street in front of the 
court-house, where he saw the commencement of the assault 
by the Hilliard party, and, that at the first fire Massey ran 
in such haste that he jumped over the high fence at a point 
which made it impossible for him afterward to have seen what 
was going on at the court-house door. The very next issue 
of the Yazoo City Democrat contained the following : 

"T. D. MORRIN COMES INTO COURT. 

" This fellow, whose name should not blot our paper, but for his tall 
swearing against a gentleman, testified yesterday, under oath, that 
Mr. E. K. Massey had not told the truth in his testimony before 
Judge Walton. We cannot expect Mr. Massey to notice such a con- 
temptible cur. How can he notice a man who allows his face to be 
spit upon without resentment ? As Mr. M. cannot meet him, we 
mark him one^ that he may be known of all men. Bear this brand on 
your face, coward. Bear this on your collar, dog, beneath the no- 
tice of this community,* unworthy of notice by a respectable court." 

*StiU, in 1874, as previously in 1865, 1867 and 1868, when uttered by a Southern white, 
the terms "our people" and "this community" were intended to include none but 
Buch as were in the ranks of " the enemy." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. .39-9' 

During the canvass for the office, notwithstanding the fact 
that I was the only Republican candidate against him, the 
irreconcilables had b^en unable thoroughly to unite upon Mr. 
Hilliard. This was due in a large measure to the same feel- 
ings as prevented them uniting in 1869 for Dent (Grant's 
•"own deah brother-in-law), against Alcorn, or for Greeley 
against Grant in 1872. The element opposed to Mr. Hil- 
liard based their opposition upon principle. They no more 
objected to his " nigro ticket " than they did to him. Both 
were equally offensive to them. They would neither handle, 
taste, nor touch the unclean thing, and all who had been in 
any way identified with the Republican party, to them were 
forevermore unclean. 

Of the more than four thousand registered voters in the 
<jounty, we have seen that but four hundred and thirty-one 
voted for Mr. Hilliard, It would be fair to say that of that 
number at least fifty were colored men. Therefore, of the 
more than fifteen hundred registered white voters there were 
less than four hundred who voted for Mr. Hilliard. All the 
remainder had either abstained from voting or had voted 
for me or for Mr.^Mangum, who stood as an independent, and 
received some two hundred votes. 

The element that supported Mr. Hilliard had stooped to 
■conquer. Their brethren, too proud to stoop, had refused to 
vote for either of us, and had not voted at all, or had voted 
for the independent. But now there was no need to stoop. 
The way was open which led to power and dominion in 
Yazoo. Mr. Hilliard was dead, and I was in jail, charged 
with murder. It would only be necessary to march in and 
occupy. So the enemy appeared to think and so they did 
act ; for immediately upon the death of Mr. Hilliard and 
my submission to the advice of my counsel, all the elements 
among the irreconcilables appeared suddenly to unite, and to 
have a common purpose. Men who had been in hiding for 
five years, "biding their time," once more appeared in town 
and took part in the raid on the county government by add- 



400 YAZOO; OR, 

ing their voices to the hue and crj of the irreconcilables- 
against me. But the body of the whites stood aloof and 
would have nothing to do with it. They, however, lacked 
the manly independence to come out and take an open part 
against the usurpations of the irreconcilables. They had 
Si\vf aye followed. That attitude had become a habit with them.. 
In the five years of peace we had enjoyed in Yazoo^ 
they had ventured to act and vote for themselves. But in 
the presence of the violent demonstrations of the irreconcila- 
bles they were cowed, and, therefore, silent. 

But no sooner had I resumed the duties of my office than 
some of the most violent of the irreconcilables became fawn- 
ing suitors after favors. Tbe rough characters again disap- 
peared, and the open, manly irreconcilables again went in 
hiding and " bided their time." Peace had come again to 
Yazoo, and I resumed my planting in the old stubble-grounds. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 401 



CHAPTER LXr. 

AN ACCOUNT OF MY STEWARDSHIP, 1869 TO 1875 — A SURVEY 
OF THE FIELD. 

THE smallest political subdivision in Mississip;^.! is the 
county government. " Town meetings" are unknown 
there. There are township territorial subdivisions, but no 
township governments. For this reason the C3unty officers 
and the county " rings" are the most powerful factors in State 
politics. The leading spirit in the county government is likely 
to be also a leading member of the central or State govern- 
ment, and, per consequence, of the State " ring." In old times, 
therefore, it had not been a difficult thing for a handful of 
leaders, like Mr. Jefferson Davis, to take the State along with 
themselves to perdition. There were no town meetings to 
protest against it. In the reorganization of our new State 
government, the old subdivisions had been preserved. In 
our State convention a proposal to change the system, and 
to introduce township government was opposed by nearly 
every member of the class known as old citizens, and by 
most of the colored members. 

The former opposed the change mainly on the ground that 
it would prove to be a dangerous '• innovation.'' The people 
were opposed to innovations. The colored members opposed it 
Kjliiefly because of the lack of proper material in our party out 
of which to form the township governments — a weakness 
which the enemy would be quick to take advantage of. 
26y 



402 YAiuO; OR, 

By the old constitution, during the slave regime, the countj^ 
board was styled the Board of County "Police ;" by our 
new constitution the county board was styled the Board of 
County " Supervisors." The change was in name merely. 
The supervisors had no more nor any less powers of gov- 
vernment under the new than under the old sjstem. In 
fact, the law relating to the powers, and the duties of the- 
board of police was continued in full force us to the board 
of supervisors. 

By this law the board not only had such powers of govern- 
ment as usually belongs to such bodies in free States, but 
also all those powers usually attaching in free States to the- 
township government. 

Thus the board of supervisors would be the most important 
position in our new government. 1 resolved to guard that 
position myself, and, having asked for it, I was appointed 
supervisor for " Beat No. 3 " — the Yazoo City beat — by Gen- 
eral Ames, and was made president of the board by the 
voice of my colleagues. This was 1869. 

My pay as such member would not exceed ninety doUara 
per year. I therefore was not likely to get rich off of that 
office unless I should steal the revenues it would be my duty 
to levy. If my assumption of the robes of so important an 
office in the county administration was an "audacious impo- 
sition " upon the property[class, what was it that made it so? 
Two years before I was quietly pursuing on Tokeba my 
private business, and had come to the front in county 
politics not from choice, but from an imperious necessity. 
Had Major Snodgrass possessed courage equal to his convic- 
tions, he could have done away with any such necessity, and 
would doubtless have enjoyed the sympathy and support of 
a majority of the inhabitants of the county as fully as 
now, in 1869, I did. But he lacked the courage, and 
Judge Isam Major Sweet, Colonel Black, and all the rest,, 
really acted as though it was their duty to oppose, even 
with violence, the principles i-.nd policy which had brought 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 403 

nie to the front. Having crossed the Rubicon in the political 
contest (this, it must be borne in mind was two years and more 
prior to my crossing of the Rubicon in the social war then 
in progress), and the "ball" having opened, there was no 
way of retreat, had I even desired to run away from the 
heavy responsibilities which leadership in Yazoo County 
affairs would impose upon me. I had now no desire to run. 
To have done so at that juncture ought to have entailed eter- 
nal ignominy upon my name. 80 I felt then, and so I feel 
now. My place was at the head and I took it. In this step 
I had the active sympathy and support of three-fourths of the 
men, women and children then living within the county limits, 
and of thousands outside. 

I remained in that place, and continued to have the 
warmest sympathy and support of three-fourths of the people 
of the county, with only individual exceptions now and then, 
from the first to the last. The "first" was the day before 
our election for delegates to the State convention, in 1867, 
when I received fifteen hundred votes to three hundred for 
the purely Yankee ticket, and the three votes that were cast 
against "convention." The "last" was in 1875, when I 
received but two votes and " the enemy " more than four 
thousand. The former was when " that tailor " Johnson was 
President, and there was a two-thirds Republican majority in 
Congress. The latter was when " that butcher " Grant was 
President, and there was a two-thirds Democratic majority in 
only the lower House of Congress. Between the two 
epochs lay Credit Mobilier, Pacific Mail, Sanborn Contracts 
and Henry Ward Beecher. 

Considering the ground I have been over up to this time, 
I think the reader will agree with me that I have not had 
very much to say of myself as leader and " dictator " iu 
Yazoo. But we have now reached a point where I must give 
some account of my stewardship, and tell the reader what I, 
backed by the loyal and true of our brave crew, did in Yazoo, 
during the period of my trust. I shall be brief, and I shall 
begin with our party's management of the county finances 



404 YAZOO; OR, , 

At the beginning of our term of office, the board dis- 
•covered that not only was there no money in the treasury, 
but that the total indebtedness of the county could not be 
fascertained for lack of proper records. We were able to 
know, beyond a doubt, that it amounted to quite ten thousand 
dollars. It might be thirty thousand. It was in the shape 
of county warrants, which, up to that moment, had sold 
down as low as forty-five, and rarely went higher than sixty- 
five cents on the dollar. But a small patch of the county 
poor farm was being cultivated. The county poorhou3e was 
a hovel, into which only the most wretched of the crippled 
and diseased poor could be induced to enter, and where vice 
was at- a premium. The courts were being held in a little, 
old hall.* The only protection for the valuable county 
records were the brick walls of this hall, and a watchman- 
The highways had been neglected; some of them were im- 
passable. The bridges were nearly all old, and sadly in need of 
repair. Populous settlements were deprived of access to the 
county site for several months in the year for want of 
bridges, unless men could spare from their business the time 
requisite for a tedious, circuitous, and expensive journey, 
partly by private teams, and partly by irregular river packets. 
The county jail was a rickety old brick contrivance, with a 
board fence, half rotted down, and toppling over in places. 
There was but one cell in it that could be made secure against 
the escape of a prisoner.! It was, indeed, a common jail. 
There was not a free public school-house in the county. 
Mississippi was an old State when Nebraska was peopled only by 
Indians and hunters, but in 1869 there was hardly an organ- 
ized county in what is now the State of Nebraska that had 
not a better free sctiool building than any house used for 
school purposes in Yazoo County in 1809, audit was among the 
first counties organized in the State — a center of population, 
of wealth, and of commerce. The only school-houses in 
use were such as had been erected for private schools, 

♦Over a store-room. 

I The one in which they had placed my brother but little more than a year before. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 405 

and some that had been erected with so much of the pro- 
ceeds of the sixteenth-section school lands, as had not been 
stolen by Yazoo slave lords. 

The report of the superintendent of public education of the 
State for the year ending December 31, 1871, is a most inter- 
esting study. Upon page 146 and thence to 208, will be 
found a series of tables entitled "Statement showing the 
condition of school funds, arising from sale and rental of 
school lands in each county." The table for Yazoo County 
will be found upon pages 199 to 208. From that table it 
appears that during the administration of that fuud by the 
enemy, seventy-six '' loans " out of it had been made, for 
which the only record preserved of the fact, was the name 
of the borrower^ fifty-seven had been made upon notes, with- 
out any security whatever. In the cases of seventeen " loans," 
the unpaid interest was found to equal and in a majority of 
that number largely exceed the amount of the principal. Of 
the whole number, only fifteen were secured by "trust deed.'*' 
In ten cases there appears to have been some security, but 
the nature of it is not mentioned. The loans vary in sums 
from §26.00 to §6,390. Of those of which there was record^ 
all except nine were due and payable prior to the appointment 
of our Republican board of supervisors, and a large part of 
them all were due prior to the war. Yet up to 1869 no effort 
had been made to collect them. 

Judge Isam, Judge Syam, Major Sweet and Mrs. Black are 
among the borrowers, as are also a considerable number of 
the "smaller fry" of the kuklux organization, including the 
author of that "piece" in the Banna- entitled " Kukluxes." 
A feature of that table which will specially interest my reader 
and illumine this page, is the following : 

" Loan " — name of school commissioner and by whom 
the loan was made, " W. 1). Gibbs;"* to whom the loan was 
made," W. D. Gibbs;" when due " March 1, 1867;" amount, 
one of "§611.20;" one of " II.ISO"— total, $1,761.20; amount 

*rhe reader will recognize him as my opiionent for the Senate in ISWi. 



406 YAZOO ; OR, 

of interest unpaid, "$846.14;" total principal and interest, 
$2,607.34, "not secured." 

The total of loans of which there was a record was, $56,- 
061.14. The total of unpaid interest, $24,262.21. Of this 
fund in his report for that year, our county superintendent 
said : 

" The fund derived from the rental of the sixteenth sections has 
been greatly diminished, and is almost a total loss. * * * Claims 
for leases and loans, including the interest thereon, amounting to the 
large sum of $86,568.96 have come into possession of the officers au- 
thorized by law to receipt for and have the custody of the same. Of 
this large sum only $26,690.15 was deemed, some nine months since, 
on a critical examination, to be good ; $30,250.15 have been put in suit, 
while only $8,782.06 have, so far, been collected, which, under the law, 
is to be invested in State or United States bonds.-' 

Of the pauper fund it was discovered that several of the 
"first families" had been, for months at a time, furnished with 
provisions, on the ground that they were for old and indi- 
gent freedmen, free negroes, or mulattoes, and I wondered 
how much of the allowance to Colonel Black, Uncle Prim- 
ous and his old, old mother on Tokeba had received. The 
reader should keep in mind that there were no township 
levies, collections or funds. 

During the four years that had passed since the surrender, 
large suras had been collected from the people of the county 
in various ways by our predecessors, yet there had been no 
effort made in the direction of a new court-house and but 
little for the improvement of the roads, bridges, or for the 
poor, and nothing at all had been done for schools. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 407 



CHAPTER LXII. 

ACCOUNT OF MY STEWARDSHIP CONTINUED — A SECOND CROP OFF 
THE OLD STUBBLE-GROUND OF YAZOO. 

HAD the county finances been in good shape, there were 
obstacles enough in the way of a successful establish- 
ment of the new government to make it a doubtful experi- 
ment. With the county heavily in debt, its paper so greatly 
■depreciated that only those inside the county ring would deal 
in it, and extensive immediate outlays absolutely necessary 
for the proper security of the county records, the dispatch of 
the business of the county, especially of the courts, the con- 
•struction of bridges, etc., etc., to work at the same time for 
the establishment of free schools appeared to many of the 
Unionists a '' suicidal undertaking," to some of the North- 
erners, a hopeless task, and to the enemy an outrage, for which 
the people of the county "without regard to color" would 
hold the perpetrators responsible to the full extent of the 
law and outraged public sentiment. 

Many well-meaning friends said " we must not attempt to 
do all at once." Among these was our new sheritf, nearly 
all the Unionists, and some Northerners. 

" Well, gentlemen, I said, which of these pressing demands 
would you postpone ? " 

Some said the free schools, some the new court-house, some 
the new bridges, some favored the funding of the county 
debt in long bonds, while others said postpone none, but 



408 YAZOO ; OR, 

carry them all along together ; only establish but few schools"' 
just enough to satisfy the freed people ; pay the debt gradu- 
ally; build only the most important bridges, rent suitable 
buildings for county purposes, and protect against fire by 
hiring watchmen. 

To all these protests and arguments, I offered the following : 

In my opinion, the success of our efforts to establish a free 
government here, and to introduce a new and better civiliza- 
tion, absolutely depends upon our ability to open at once a 
free school in every principal neighborhood ; and to make 
the schools successful for the purpose, the very be?t teachers 
that can be obtained should be employed. We can put up 
with cheap houses, but we must have the very best teachers. 
All this will cost money, of course. 

The enemy profess to believe that- the negro is inca- 
pable of learning to read and write. We must demonstrate 
at once the falsity of this assumption, and the purpose of it. 
Therefore the free schools cannot be postponed. 

The commerce of Yazoo City is every year largely diverted 
from us for want of repair of county highways and bridges,^ 
and the people are put to great annoyance and inconvenience 
on account of it. By reason of all which their tax-paying 
power is reduced. 

We can postpone the payment of the debt, but will it be 
wise to do so ? Should we attempt to run the government 
on a credit basis, we put ourselves at once into the noose of 
the county speculators, and thereby nearly double the ex- 
penses. 

We can postpone the building of a new court-house, but 
would that be good policy ? The expenditures for rent and 
for watchmen would annually equal a reasonable interest on 
the amount required for the purpose. 

"Gentlemen, let us shoulder the load at once, and carry 
it all." 

"Why, man, you're cmzy \ It can't be done/' said thcr 
Unionists. 

" It's a mistake," said the Northerners. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 409^ 

" It's an outrage, auJ the people, without regard to color^ 
won't submit to it/' said the enemy. 

"Let's reason together," I said ; "if we pay as we go we 
can do it." 

"But you've got no money and no credit, how can you do- 
it?" said they all. 

"Increase the taxes," I responded. 

" The people won't submit to an increase suthcient for the 
purpose," replied the Unionists, 

" That won't work," the Northerners. 

" We won't pay it," replied the enemy. 

"The people of the county are as well able to pay annually, 
two per cent, of the value of their property and incomes now 
as formerly they were able to pay one per cent," I replied. 

'' Man, you're wild," said the Unionists. 

"How's that ? " said the Northerners. 

" You're a fool " said the enemy, " or a knave." 

"' When the war broke out" I replied, "nearly one-half of 
the planters and merchants of this county were in debt to the 
full amount of the cash value of their property in lands and 
slaves. Is that not so? " 

" Well, that may be true— what of it ? " 

" One-half of the remainder were in debt to fully one-half 
the value of their said property." 

" Well, what has that to do with this question ?" 

"This; this indebtedness was somewhat increased during 
the war, and at its close, the legislature passed a stay law, 
postponing the collection of all debts. At this juncture the 
Northern creditors of our merchants, planters and others, 
came forward with offers to settle, some on a basis of one-half^ 
some one-quarter. In some instances they forgave all. Is 
that not so?" 

" Well, as a rule, yes," said they all. 

" My understanding of it is, that the principal merchants- 
here in Yazoo City aad others in the county settled at one- 
quarter, while some paid nothing. Well, in addition to this 



410 YAZOO ; OR, 

and afterwards the United States Congress amended the 
national bankrupt law so that fully three-fourths of the prin- 
cipal debtors of this county have been able to pay ofi* all their 
debts contracted since the war, and at the same time keep 
their lands and much other property. So that now many of 
them are better olf than ever before in their lives." 

" Hain't thought a that afo'," said the Unionists. 

"By George, that's so!" exclaimed the Northerners. 

" You all stole our nigros, and bankrupted we all," said the 
enemy. 

'' But the same negroes are here to this day, and you all 
agree that while they own no land, they work just as faith- 
fully as before they were free, and in the last campaign you 
all told them, and insisted upon it, that, after all, being the 
laboring, producing class, they would have to pay the taxes. 
In proof of which, you cited Mill and other standard author- 
ities." 

Now the Unionists said nothing. The Northerners 
whispered in my ear, " bully for you, Morgan, give it to 'em.' 

The enemy with one voice said, " damn it," and when we 
came to consult the "freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes," 
they with one voice said, '' stan' yo' groun', Kunnel, we'll 
Stan' by ye, nebber did low't 'ole mars had no sense, no how." 

The truth is, that while the assessed value of the property 
of the county, from 1865 to 1869, was in round numbers, four 
and a half millions, it could not have been purchased of its 
•owners for less than twenty millions of dollars. 

By way of illustration, Tokeba, for which we paid seven 
•dollars per acre rent, in 1866 and 1867, and would have con- 
tinued to pay the same sum through 1868, but for the deter, 
mination of Colonel Black and the enemy to " get rid a'them 

d — d Yankee s — of b s now," was assessed at one dollar 

per acre for some, and none at a higher rate than eight dol- 
lars per acre. 

The Payne plantations, perhaps the most valuable in the 
county, with two great gin-houses on them that could not 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 411 

have cost less than forty thousand dollars each, with almost 
•new board and rail fences, extensive "quarters" and tine 
" mansion " houses, were assessed at from one to ten dollars 
per acre. 

My recollection is that there was not an acre assessed at 
80 high a figure as twelve dollars. Yet the Northerners who 
rented them in 1866 and 1867, paid ten dollars per acre annual 
rental for the cultivated lands. The total of the individ- 
ual indebtedness of the county, which had been forgiven, 
amounted to as much as a million and a half dollars, and the 
total indebtedness from which individuals had been relieved 
by the bankrupt courts, amounted to at least three millions 
more. It may have been ten millions.. It will be impossible 
ever to know the exact sum, because so many applicants 
scheduled the amounts of their indebtedness as " unknown." 

At the close of the war cotton was worth from thirty-five 
to ninety cents per pound, instead of from five to eight or ten 
cents, the price before the war; and while the price had rap- 
idly declined, yet, in 1869, it was still going at from fifteen 
to twenty-five cents per pound, while the average hire of a 
laborer to make the crop was fifteen dollars per month. The 
years of 1868 and 1869 had been exceptionally good ones, and 
both" white" and "black" were beginning to indulge in luxu- 
ries. So I concluded that, taking everything into consideration, 
it was probable that the four succeeding years would certainly 
be as favorable as 1866-'67-'68-'69. Besides, father used to say 
that the time for making hay was when we had sunshine. 
"We were having good hay-making weather in Mississippi, 
now that Grant was President, and I could not help feeling 
that possibly something might happen, such as a sudden storm 
of wind or rain, before we should complete our task, unless 
we made all the haste possible. Therefore, I proposed that 
we revise and correct the inequalities in the present assessment 
rolls and make a slight increase in the total valuation while 
doing so. 

This was done. Plantations like Tokeba were increased iu 



412 YAZOO ; OR, 

value upon the roll to two, eight and twelve dollars per acre; 
those like the Paynes to two, ten, and fifteen dollars per acre, 
according to the land and improvements ; while those that 
had been assessed at too high a rate correspondingly, were 
reduced in value upon the assessment roll. The result was 
an increase of the total valuation of the real and personal 
property of the county in round numbers to five millions. 

Upon this valuation it was the duty of the State govern- 
ment to make its levy for the purposes of a State revenue. 
After which, taking the State levy for a basis, and, to some 
extent, a guide, it became the duty of the county supervisors 
to make the levy for a revenue for county purposes. 

It was too late to think of doiug anything tow^ard estab- 
lishing our school system that year. The most we could do 
would be to make some provision for a revenue for the pur- 
pose, which we did, and the total levy for the year, for all 
purposes, was fixed at fifteen mills upon the vahiation men- 
tioned. This amount embraced the State levy, and our levy 
for meeting all the expenses of the county, such as for courts^ 
paupers, roads, bridij'es, to create a fund for a new court- 
house and to pay the county debt. 

The enemy employed legal counsel and fought these inno- 
vations, as they were termed, step by step, but in vain. I 
had anticipated this opposition and, in the selection of mem- 
bers for this vital point in our loyal government, had pro- 
cured the appointment of two colored men, who, with myself, 
constituted a majority of the board. It may be regarded as 
a little singular that I should have been willing to entrust 
so sacred an interest to the chance of an alliance between 
two " ignorant nigros," as they were called by the enemy, 
and the old ex-slaveholder on the board. A little reflection , 
however, will satisfy the reader that I acted from correct 
principles. It is true that, as a rule, Southern men, whether 
Unionists, Conservatives or irreconcilables, have always 
maintained that the negro is unreliable when placed in charge 
of an important trust. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 413 

Most of such people maintain, even to this day. that he is 
not only unreliable, bat incapable. 

But here were two freedraen — men who had been slaves 
until the war freed them — one of whom could barely read, 
who could not sign his name, the other of whom could write 
only about as well as he could read, and that was very poorly, 
and yet I trusted them implicitly. In the first place, I knew 
that the freed people were in truth craving an opportunity to 
educate their children, I believed that these men, in such 
a position, w^ould wish to represent faithfully the known 
wishes of their " own color." 

I also believed that the great mass of freed people did in 
truth appreciate their freedom, and would be as prompt to 
condemn wastefulness or extravagance on the part of their 
representatives as the whites, if not more so. And, although 
the color of one was " light," and his eyes gray, the color of 
the other black, with black eyes, I felt that I could trust 
them. They both had worked hard since the war, and saved 
their money, and upon the very first opportunity had purchased 
land. 

The result proved the wisdom of my choice, for while the 
Northerner on the board " wavered " several times during 
the contest, and while the ex-slaveholder often got very hot, 
indignant, and " outraged," the voices of the two colored 
men were always on the side of the right. 

First "the enemy" attempted to coax, then to bribe, and 
then to drive them froai me, but, without a particle of coax- 
ing, or of "convincing," or of bulldozing, from me, or any 
of my friends, these men stood firm as a rock, upon the 
naked line of duty, swerving neither to the right nor to the 
left, and I here testify that they discharged their duties faith-- 
fully, ably, and most creditably' to themselves and the county. 

The fact is, they were me7i, with the instincts common to 
good, well-meaning men. They were also citizens, and they 
appreciated the fact. They were public officers in charge of 
a sacred trust. They were representatives ^ and they under- 



414 YAZOO ; OR, 

stood that fact, and they bowed loyally to the known will of 
their constituents. Under this administration the rate of 
tax for all purposes at no time exceeded twenty-five mills- 
upon the assessed value of the property of the county, and 
this increase was made necessary by reason of the reduction 
of the poll-tax to two dollars, the repeal of the tax on the- 
" privileges" heretofore referred to,^ and the demands of the 
schools and the courts. 

The largely increased litigation between the whites result-- 
ing from the war, formed but a small part of the total increase 
in the expenses of the courts. Formerly the master was a 
law unto himselfin all matters between himself and his slaves.. 

To be sure, there were laws upon the statute books regulat- 
ing the relations between master and slave, but they were 
rarely appealed to. 

If a slave committed any oftence of a lower grade than a 
felony, his master tried and punished him. If the offence 
amounted to a felony, it was often the case that the master 
put himself" in the stead of the courts, and called out his blood- 
hounds or his neighbors ta assist him in cases which he could 
not manage alone. 

The amount of business before the courts brought by the 
masters against their slaves, or by slaves against their masters., 
and that between the slaves formed but a most insignificant 
part of the whole. 

If the population of the county in " slave times " was 
twenty thousand — there being two slaves to every " white" — 
it followed from the causes I have mentioned, that only one- 
third of the whole, or about seven thousand, were likely to- 
have business in the courts. 

By the change in these conditions produced by the ratifi- 
cation of our new constitution, the whole population had 
access to the courts. 

The extent of the increase from this cause may be illustra- 
ted if not supplemented, by the fact, that the former whole- 
sale methods, so to speak,, of doing: business, was being trans-- 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 415 

formed into those of a retail business, which embraced the 
details of affairs, and consequently resulted in new complica- 
tions. 

The sudden increase of the illiterate class, already fifty- 
seven in every one hundred of whites in the State, by the 
addition of the freed people as active competitors in life, was 
another cause of this increase; so that the legitimate ex- 
penses of the courts, civil and criminal, became three times 
as great as before. It should also be borne in mind that this 
was not a virgin soil, like the prairies and forests of the great 
West, where the germs of civilization needed only to be 
dropped and a few scarecrows erected to keep off the goph - 
ers, blackbirds and wild pigeons, to insure a rich harvest; 
but it was the old stubble-ground of slavery, where every seed 
of the new civilization we were planting must needs be pro- 
tected against swarms of wild geese, sand-hill cranes, foxes, 
hyenas and wolves; creatures of prey that could not be 
frightened by men of straw, but must be met face to face, 
both night and day, by a watchfulness, physical courage, and 
purity and strength of purpose, that should demonstrate the 
better quality of the new husbandmen, as well as of the new 
seed. 

Nothing daunted by this opposing array, the remnant, 
of the garrison of the little Yankee stronghold of Yazoo, 
backed by the little church we helped to build, the agencies 
of Northern philanthropic societies, the mass of freedmen, 
free negroes and mulattoes, protected by the broad shield of 
that grand old flag, which we still carried as representative 
of the then settled purpose and convictions of the free North 
land, we planted, cultivated and went forward in the harvest- 
ing of the second crop of freedom ever grown on Yazoo soil. 



4l6 YAZOO ; OR. 



chaptp:r lxiii. 

ACCOUNT OF MY STEWARDSHIP CONTINUED — RESULTS — OF WHAT 
THE SECOND CROP CONSISTED— OUR NEW COURT-HOUSE — THE 
POOR-HOUSE — THE JAIL — NEW BRIDGES — IMPROVED HIGH- 
WAYS — IMPROVEMENTS IN YAZOO CITY — A NEW FIRE-ENGINE 
EFFORTS IN BEHALF OF A RAILROAD — FREE SCHOOLS — TAXA- 
TION. 

THE reader has already seen what was accomplished by 
" the enemy " during the years of its control prior to 
the war, and in the four years which followed that event, in 
the way of county public improvements. In this chapter I 
shall endeavor to faithfully set down what was accomplished 
by " we all radicals," in the six years of my " dictatorship." 
By the beginning of the year 1875, the requisite repairs upon 
the county highways and bridges had been completed, and 
new bridges built, so that in that respect the county had 
never before enjoyed equal facilities. Improvements upon 
the poor-farm buildings had been made, the farm put in 
cultivation, system and order enforced in its management 
and among its inmates, and the institution had become 
nearly self-sustaining. 

The capacity and security of the jail had been enlarged by 
the addition of safe, iron cells. 

A new court-house, costing quite seventy thousand dollars, 
bad been erected and paid for as the work progressed, and 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 417 

iiad been " accepted " by a committee of the oldest and best 
members of our Yazoo bar association. Everybody said it 
was a credit to the county. 

The county indebtedness had at no time exceeded the 
annual levy for current expenses. The finances had been 
managed in such a way that within the first year of our 
control, county warrants went up to par, and remained there 
during the entire period, with only short exceptional occa- 
sions. At the close of 1873 there were outstanding obliga- 
tions amounting to quite thirty thousand dollars, but nearly 
if not quite the entire sura would be absorbed by the tax- 
levy of that year, the collection of which had been inter- 
fered with by the " insurrection." 

Yazoo City was an incorporated town, its government 
was under the control of the Republicans, who were in a 
majority. As in the county so it was here; extensive 
improvements had been wrought; new side-walks, pave- 
ments, and gutters, had been made, and, above all, perhaps, 
a new steam fire-engine had been provided. Our Yankee 
postmaster, aided by a fe.v public-spirited fellow-citizens, 
was foremost in all these gootl works. 

We hal failed, it is true, to get a railroad to our town, 
but that was by no fault of " we all Yankees.'' Three lines 
had been chartered, and at one time the prospect was very 
bright indeed that we would have one. But the great panic 
spreading throughout the North had interfered with our 
plans. Mississippi hardly felt the great shock, it is true, but 
as we were depending largely upon iSTorthern capital for our 
road, and as the panic wrecked for a season all such prospects, 
our proposed railroad withered and shrank so far away that 
it had not yet reached Yazoo City, nor even Mississippi. 

On all these Improvements our party leaders had been 
practically a unit, and the great body of the freed people 
had stood squarely by us. I am sorry to say that there was 
not the same harmony among " we all Kepublicans " upon 
the school question. 

27y 



418 YAZOO ; OR, 

By the annual message of Governor James L. Alcorn for 
1871 it appears that there were schools open in Yazoo County 
from 1865 to 1870 as follows: 

1865 — For white pupils, 6; for colored, 3. 

1866— " " "8; " " 5. 

1867— " " "8; " " 2. 

1868— " " " 12; " " 3. 
18t)9— " " " 14; '- " 6. 
1870— " " " 14; " '' 6. 

None of these were free public schools, and those for the 
colored people were organized and supported entirely by the 
bureau, or by Northerners or by the freed people themselves, 
with the exception of the " Democratic school" of 1868. 

At this point I deem it to be due to my reader to quote, 
relative to the progress of our free system from the reports of 
the State superintendents. 

From the report for 1871: 

"No feature of tlie new system of government met with more 
determined opposition at the outset than the school system. A 
majority of the wealthy and intelligent classes, unable to divest them- 
selves of the irrational prejudices and passions, the outgrowth of 
slavery, clinging with a tenacity worthy of a better cause, to its con- 
comitant social, political, and educational theories, they contested 
the introduction of the people's schools with a determination that 
seemed at times would overwhelm and destroy them. This antago- 
nism was inspired by a class of idle politicians, and an unscrupulous 
press, whose acme of ambition seemed to be to thwart every measure 
and effort looking to the development and prosperity of the State; 
preferring darkness to light— iguorance to intelligence. 

" This partisan hi)stility at length culminated in open violence, 
particularly in the eastern portion of the State. I have deemed it a 
matter of duty, unpleasant and painful as it is, to report some of the 
most flagrant cases of incendiarism and violence towards teachers 
and school officers which have occurred since the inauguration of the 
free school system." 

From the same for 1872: 

" In submitting this my second annual report, it affords me much 
pleasure to be able to say, that the results of the educational work of 
the past year are of the most encouraging character. Our free pub- 
lic schools are rapidly gaining favor among all classes of the'people. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. -119 

andlhe cause of education throughout the State is steadily advancing^ 
Irrational prejudices and passions are gradually giving way to reason 
and an enlightened conservatism. The masses of the people, includ- 
ing a large proportion of the wealthy and intelligent classes are begin- 
ning to demand a conformation to the great fundamental changes in 
our State and national policy, particularly with reference to popular 
education." 

From the same for 1873: 

"As the people become familiar with the workings and results of 
our system of schools, they are convinced not only of its practical 
utility as a means of educating their children, but that universal edu- 
cation secured by a system of public instruction is necessary to the 
very existence of a government like ours. 

"The growth of our educational institutions is indeed marvellous 
when we consider that our system of public education has been in 
practical operation only about three years." 

From same for 1874 : 

' "Steadily the system of popular education is gro«^'ing into favor 
with the people of our State. The former obstacles which prevented 
the growth of our public schools are rapidly diminishing, and they 
are now receiving almost unanimous support from the people. * * * 
Considering the great opposition which the system has liad to encoun- 
ter from a vast majority of the intelligent portion of our inhabitants, 
and the gn at breadth of its operations, we have every reason to con- 
gratulate ourselves." 

There was no violent opposition to the establishment of 
the system in Yazoo Connty, The difiiculty was of another 
kind. The school board of the county was composed of 
very worthy and capable men, Unionists and ^Northerners, 
and one colored man. At its head was the county superin- 
tendent, a Yankee who had been a bank president, was a 
large real estate owner in the county, and a gentleman of 
considerable culture and of very superior abilities, but he. pos- 
sessed the same failing as most Northerners who settle there 
sooner or later seem bound to discover, lie w'as conscien- 
tious in the discharge of his duties, but was extremely desi- 
rous of having the good opinion of " Southerners."* He was- 
also anxious to have the good opinion of the colored people^ 
and I have no doubt meant to do for their best good in his 

*IIe afterward married a most estimable lady of that State. 



420 YAZOO; OR, 

V 

management of that branch of our county government, but 
the white Southerners associated with him, were extremely 
timid. They went forward with their work as though their 
first duty was to consult the enemies of the system, and 
although our board of supervisors repeatedly assured the 
school board of their willingness to levy for whatever amount 
they could wisely use, their three first annual estimates were 
far below what they should have been. In addition to this, 
while the number of edacable children in the county, accord- 
ing to the assessors' returns in 1872 was: Whites, 2,180; 
colored, 4,183. Up to and including 1872 this board had 
established but tw^enty-tive schools for the colored, and had 
given forty-one to the white children.* And as if to cap the 
climax, in 1878, they actually proposed a reduction of the 
tax-levy for school purposes. 

The colored people were beginning to clamor against this 
partiality, and the politicians among the enemy were taking 
advantage of what apparently was our neglect of the colored 
people, and, as I was at the head in the management of 
affairs, were holding me responsible for it. 

To have attempted to set up a system which ^* mixed " 
the races in the schools, nearly everybody said would lead to 
a '' war of races," so'' separate " schools had been provided for 
by State kw. The colored people did not complain of this, 
but they did demand equal school facilities. In justice to 
them they should have had the forty-one, and the whites have 
been content with the twenty-five schools; if no more than 
sixty-six could be provided. There w^as no reason at all, nor 
had there been, for this slow progress in that vital work. 

But at best, the system at first was only tolerated by the 
whites, because they could not help themselves. The ques- 
tion now was, whether they should be allowed to strangle it 
while we had it in charge. I resolved to take the responsi- 
bility of saying no. Therefore vvlion ihe superintendent's 
term expired I recommended and procured the appaintment 
of my brother in his place. 

♦See State School Report for 1S72. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 421 

Now this was not my brother, the "jail-bird," bat another 
one. 

Soon after Charles' transfer to Washington County, the 
ex-bureau agent was also transferred to a field where his 
sar^ices were likely to be more helpful to oar cause than in 
Yazoo, where, it was said, we had more than our share of 
good material. 

Shortly afterward, however. General Greenleaf and our 
"Republican magistrate" died, and went straight to Heavea, 
I believe. 

All these transfers so reduced the little garrison that Air. 
Foote, the old " guard" and myself were left the sole survi- 
vors, in the county 

During this period my brother AVilliam came down to 
visit me. Things had grown to be so much brighter-hued in 
Yazoo, that I had little difficulty to induce him to remain 
and to unite his fortunes with me in my new home. It was 
this brother whom I got appointed superintendent.* 

The result was a marked change in the conduct and growth 
of the free-school system. 

It had always been difficult to procure competent native 
white teachers for the colored schools. Native white ladies, 
even as late as 1874, w'ould '• starve " before they would 
teach " a nigger school." The former superintendent com- 
plained bitterly of this lack of teachers; but neither he nor 
his associates up3n the board to 3k the right steps to get 
them. My brother's heart was in the good work as thor- 
oughly as my own. He sent North for teachers. Under the 
new management there were no steps backward. On the 
contrary, in 1875, the close of ray brother's term, according 
to the official reports, there were in the county free schools 
as follows; White, 45; colored, QS; total 108; of teachers 
employed, there were: White, 79; colored, 23; of school- 
houses and rooms, there were 109. Sixty of these houses had 
been erected and paid for during the period. There had 
not been a day from 1869 to 1875 when the holder of a 

* The same who succeeded Powell in the sheriff's office. 



422 YAZOO; OR, 

warrant on the school fund could not demand and receive in 
lawful money of the United States the full amount expressed 
upon its face. 

The proceedings instituted by the school board for the 
recovery of the school funds squandered by the enemy during 
their long control in Yazoo, were so far successful, that in 
1875 there was in the county treasury belonging to the 
various school funds more than twenty-seven thousand dol- 
lars, the bulk of which was in United States bonds. 

At the outset the free-school idea met the determined hos- 
tility of the irreconcilables, the faint acquiescence of the con- 
servatives in the ranks of the enemy, the lukewarm adher- 
ence of the Unionists, the sympathy and active co-opera- 
tion of the Northerners and the unanimous and greedj- sup 
port of the •'' freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes." 

But in spite of all the obstacles in the way of its growth, 
in 1875 the system in Yazoo was a complete success, a fact 
acknowledged by all except possibly a handful of the most 
violent of the irreconcilables. 

It had become so popular that old and wealthy planters 
often came personally to the superintendent or members of 
the board, and pleaded for a school on their own planta- 
tions, declaring that they not only wished it as a means of 
improving the freed people, but also, because they had 
observed that the laborers on other plantations where schools 
were, or who were in the neighborhood of schools, were 
more contented and worked better. 

It was found impossible to supply the demand. To have 
done so at once would have so greatly increased the taxes 
that it would have been burdensome to the government. 

It is with a feeling of no little pride and gratification that 
I am able to add here, at the close of this account of my 
stewardship, that the tax-levy at no time durhig the entire 
period exceeded two and one-half per cent, and in 1875, was 
but two and one-fifth per cent for all purposes. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 423 



CHAPTER LXIV. 

A SURRENDER — NOT OURS BUT THE ENEMY'S. 

ii'T^HE enemy," while we planted looked on in amazement 
i and gradually descended through all the stages from 
bitter, implacable foes, blunt frenzy, helpless indifference and 
enmity, to placid acquiescence, to secret, andfinally, before 
the election of 1875, to open support. Members of the Yazoo 
bar, even Mrs. Black's attorney, confessed that the business 
of the courts had never been more ably or more satisfactorily 
conducted; that the laws had never been more faithfully or 
more justly executed; that the county had never before 
enjoyed greater peace, and the planters and the rank and 
file of the enemy all agreed that the county had never been 
more prosperous. 

There were, however, a few exceptions to this universal 
voice, viz.: Colonel Black, the human hornet, Ben Wicks, Ma- 
jor Sweet et at. But we had shouldered the load and carried it 
in triurii[)h. Not only were the grown-up men and women 
apparently reconstructed, the little boys and girls appeared 
to be equally so. I frequently had occasion to visit remote 
parts of the county, often traveling in an open buggy or on 
horseback, the usual mode of travel there, and was, as a 
rule, hospitably received wherever I went. On one occasion 
I well recollect, I was detained to a very late hour in the 
night, and, being in a sparsely-settled neighborhood, I solicited 
(of a colored man) shelter from an approaching storm. 



424 YAZOO; OR, 

He was a large planter. In the three years that had passed' 
smce the bars had been removed to his right to purchase land 
lie had acquired quite two thousand acres, a great part of 
which was good corn and cotton land, and under cultivation. 
He insisted uj^on my remaining all night, had a chicken killed 
and served for me with other substantial food, and a quite 
lavish supply of delicacies. His "spare " bed was a model 
of neatness and comfort ; his wife a model cook and house- 
keeper. I rested sweetly, and arose as refreshed and com- 
forted as though my host had been a white man and his wife 
a white lady, and doubtless got a much earlier start in the 
morning. I had not been at this home, however, more than 
long enough for the storm to subside and to eat the excellent 
supper spread for me, when I was notified that about a hun- 
dred of my constituents had assembled in the broad ground 
about the house, expressly to pay their respects, and they 
would accept no excuses. I had to submit to a hand-shake- 
from all, old and young, men, women and children,, and also 
to make a speech. It was quite eleven o'clock, but I talked 
to them for a half hour at least, praised them for their loy- 
alty, frugality, and orderly conduct, and — for there were some 
who needed it — scolded them for their intemperance in the 
use of liquors, bad treatment of their wives, indifference 
to the means for social elevation, extravagance in dress^ 
besought them to save their money, while the sun was shining 
to buy lands, and referred to mj^ present host to give point to 
my appeal as well as to my criticisms. 

Shortly after my return to town, I received a message from 
my host's former master, regretting that I had spent the 
entire night in his neighborhood without partaking of his 
hospitality — if no more than a breakfast. I afterward learned 
through a personal friend in the neighborhood that the Colo- 
nel was piqued and felt himself slighted. Such instances as- 
this were of frequent occurrence during 1872 and 1873. So 
many of the " solid" colored men of the county had acquired 
lands, were living in good houses and possessed all the com- 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF- FREED JM. 425- 

forts of a civilized home I often enjoyed making such trips- 
to the country. The teacher of the colored school usually 
made such a home his boarding place, and in the neighbor- 
hood of such colored [)lanters there were always to be found 
several bright, intelligent '• freedmen, free negroes or mulat- 
toes," male and female, who would seek me out for counsel 
and advice in their plans. It was wonderful the progress 
they were making, in acquiring an education and in all the 
arts of peace. There were several of this class of colored 
planters who kept open house, so to speak, and many a " high- 
toned, honorable gentleman," belated on his journey, was glad 
to partake of their hospitality. 

The difference between them and myself, however, was- 
alwa\-s in this : These men made a convenience of such 
homes, while I made the fact an opportunity for solid enjoy- 
ment on my own part, by the instruction I was able to give,. 
and the lessons I could always learn. It was a rule w^ith me,, 
too, to visit each neighbarhoad as often as once or twice a 
year, and talk to the people — all without regard to race or 
social position being invited. Such meetings were alwa\"s 
feasts for me, and I have great reason to believe of great 
benefit to the freed people themselves. 

I took up but a small part of the time with my own 
''talks," and always managed to draw out "speeches" from 
my hearers. This had the eiiect of developing considera- 
ble native talent. 

Among the speakers thus brought out was a small black negro,. 
who came to be known as the "little giant.'' " lligh-toned, 
honorable gentlemen" often attended these meetings, just to 
hear him. He could barely read, and could not write at all. 
He was a common plantation laborer. 

But his tongue, as often tipped with fire as with honey, 
lashed all evil-doers with a mercilessness I have never seen 
matched. His appeals to dear " ole marsta/' for justice for 
"my people" were irresistible, and I have seen our whilom 
'' Chairman of the Yazoo White Man's Democratic Commit- 



426 • YAZOO ; OR, 

tee " as often wipe from his eyes tears of sorrow as of laugh- 
ter in the course of one of these speeches. I well recollect 
one occasion when, after having by a series of witty passages, 
peculiarly descriptive of local times and incideats, got his 
audience into full sympathy with himself, in a manner that 
would have been mistaken for drollery by those who had 
never been privileged to look into the secret places in a Mis- 
sissippi free negro's heart, but which was really an awkward 
expression of his hopes, or of his fears, for the future of 
himself and his race, suddenly pointing at the object of his 
criticism, this orator exclaimed; " Thar he is now, my dear 
ole' marstah. We wor rais togedder. Doan' ye ' member, 
mars Henry, when I was a chile — ]ez a little picaninny, runin' 
aroun' in my shirt on de play groun' dah by de fo'ks ob de 
ole road, how ef yo' ' lowed to hit me I alwuz hit yer back, 
\,-^^ an' how yer deah ole father, kind, good ole marstah, now 
' gone yan'ter to glory, never would ' low ye ter 'poze on me 

no how, an' ter dis day, gran, she say how my own deah 
mother, gone yan'ter glory 'long a ole marstah, jez' tho't 
der same o' ye as o' me — kase bof on us call her mammy, an' 
kase she alius 'low ter gi'e yo' yer din' jez er same ez me; 
no diifunt — sos't we wor hongry. Den doan' ye 'member 
by'n by how ye went away dar up ter de Norf, whar de 
kunnel comed frum, and got yo' edecation and comed back 
y'here agin' real hansome an' peert, an' marry ole mars 
Langford's daughter Sayrah. Den ole marstah, yo' father, 
how proud he wor ! An' he gi'e yo' er big plantation jinin' 
on ter owrn, an' dab yo' iz a libben' ter dis blessed day. 
An' eber senz I wor growed lerge'nuff fur to pick up taters, 
toal wah'r'r fur de fiel' bans', foller de plow, huz de coh'n 
an' pick de cotting, I'z been a doin' on it jez er sam'z 'do I 
wor boh'n dar; and senz de s'render no' d'ttern. 

" Y'here all my ole feller servanz, da knows dat iz de troof. 

" My dear bre'r'en and sister'e'n, white no mo'n de black, 
none on ye eber y'hearn me blamin' ole marstah kase we wor 
his'n, dat day ter dis, no mo'n now we isn't. Day bull-whip 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 427 

an' day blood-houn's gone. Come agin no mo'. An' I 'low no 
■Qs't ter talk 'bout um no mo.' Ole marstah 'low he praise 
de Lord kase dey is. He 'low, an' young mars Henry he 
'low, day duz, day cotting growin jez er same ez b'fo de 
wah, no dift'ern. 

" Marstah, he sen' young mars Henry yan'ter de Norf fur 
ter git he edecatin' jez er same ez ole marstah Henry done 
sont young mars Henry 'to de wah; no dittern'. An' we iz 
all happy an' prospus, jez er same ez 'fo de wah; no dift'ern — 
cep'n we iz free now an' got no Ian' yit; kase young marstah 
Henry an' mars Henry 'peers like dey gvvain to keep dair'n 
fur young mars Henry comin'." 

While thu? delivering himself the young giant's colored 
hearers expressed their sympathy and approval by low, half 
suppressed moanings. 

His master's face was a study. He could not take oiiense, 
for the orator's tones were so pathetic that they covered the 
terrilic arraignment which the words presented. 

At times he bowed his head as if in grief and sorrow. At 
other times he would raise his face toward the speaker only 
to displa}" the changing colors which his anger, pity or grief, 
according to the tenor of the words to which he was listen- 
ing, forced to the surface. 

The little giant never closed one of these speeches without 
some reference to General Greenleaf, my brother Charles, or 
myself On this occasion he walked to where I was sitting 
and, placing his hand aftectionately upon my shoulder, in a 
voice so full of gratitude and of love that I shall carry the 
word's through life's journey as a most precious token, he 
said: " Y'heres my own deah brother. See dar, brer'er'en 
de Kunnel doan' 'ject ter dat ! He's mo'n dat. He's ou' 
father. De Kunnel doan 'ject ter dat neether! De Kunnel'a 
ou' saviour.* 

'' Brer'er'en, 'member de time when he wor in de firy fur- 
nace for we all po' niggers. Never furgit dat day. De 

*Neither this orator nor any of the colored people of that county ever appeared to 
thiuk there was auy pxo-fauity iu calling me their saviour. 



428 YAZOO ; OR, 

Lor'-God-A'miglity leading of 'im den, an' 'twel yit; no dif- 
fern. He never wor ashame' we all. 'iVIember how do- 
Kunnel alius hold up he head; nebber s' render. Captain 
Telsub could'n make 'm do dat; nur mars Dixon, nur mars 
Baitimo, nur Kunnel Black, nur day kuklux, De Captain, 
he jez like de Kunnel, too. Marstah Henry heself 'low white 
folks had no sense treat de Kunnel an' de General an' de 
Captain dat er way. An' marstah, peers like he think nigh 
on ter same ob de Kunnel now ez we all duz. Peers like 
day is all jealous kase we po' niggers loves de Kunnel so. 
Brer'er'en de ole so's a healen up, sho ! Bress de Lord !" 

By the time our orator had reached this point, his colored 
auditors were wrought up to such a fever that they began 
shouting in the old camp-meeting style, and stamping the 
floor, effectually drowning the speaker's voice. " Ole mars- 
tah" appeared to enjoy it too, and at the close congratulated 
me heartily. He acknowledged that he was jealous of the 
love of his old slaves, and appeared to sincerely regret the- 
" foolishness " — even he called it by that name now — of him- 
self and his associates in opposing the reconstruction of the 
State upon the Congressional plan. 

The attempt of the irreconcilables, upon the death of Mr. 
Hilliard, to capture tlie couuty government, interrupted 
these pleasant relations but for a brief spell, for when all 
the fiicts became known, I was as fully exonerated from all 
blame by the great body of the whites as I had been by the 
courts.* So far as I could see the irreconcilables were my 
only enemies. I had not despaired of their conversion, yet I 
knew it must be a great way otf. The reader already knows 
what their attitude toward me was in 1807 and 1868. Even 
after the election of Grant, in 18G8, and down to the death 
of Mr. Hilliard, that attitude on the part of the human hor- 
net, Harry Baltimore and Ben Wicks, had undergone no 
appreciable change. The human hornet's hostility to me had 

*Very soon after my release from jail the Grand Jury fully Investigated the circum- 
stances of the killing of Mr. Hilliard, and reported to the court that they could find 
no grounds for an indictment against me. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 429 

heen intensified by my appearance against him in 1872, as 
attorney for the State upon his trial for the killing of one of 
his hands, a negro. I never had been called upon to per- 
form that service against Ben AVicks, and his hostility was 
solely due to political antagonisms, so too was Harry Balti- 
more's, and so too was that of all who agreed with those 
persons. Ben Wicks never sat down to table in Dave Cot- 
tonridge's re.-taurant when I was present that he did not 
offer me some personal affront before either < f us went out; 
often he would come to my table, no matter who might 
happen to be with me, or present in the dining-room, and, 
placing his hands upon a chair opposite, w^ould lean over 
toward me with his well-known bravado, and stare at me a 
full minute, often accompanying the act with some foul 
observation upon the Yankees, or the negroes. For a long 
time the human hornet, Captain Telsub, Major Sweet, Colo- 
nel Black, Harry Baltimore, and others of their set, imita- 
ted the example thus set them, but in 1874, in less than 
ninety days after my release from jail, there was an appre- 
ciable change in the conduct of all those persons towards 
me. Major Sweet hatl changed so far as to manifest a desire 
to get acquainted with me. I had had an opportunity to 
extend a courtesy to the human hornet, and the coals of tire 
thus heaped on his head extorted from him warm thanks. 
Countrymen having business with the sheriff' often went 
away to hunt up some friend of mine that they might make 
known their " surprise " at finding me to be " a gentleman." 
I recollect one real old man, who never came to the court- 
house often er than once a year, and who had never seen 
me before. He remained for some time staring at me before 
he made known his business, and then informed my office 
deputy that he wished to see me. On being informed that 
he had been looking at me, the old man blushed, stam- 
mered an apology, and, in a half-dazed sort of way made 
known his business. When it was concluded, he walked out 
into the hall and to the first person he met exclaimed, 



430 YAZOO ; OK, 

" humph ! I 'lowd Morgin wor a nigger." Then, after wait- 
ing about for some time, during which he returned several 
times to stare at me, he walked away, saying to himself, " but 
I'm d — d ef he ain't a real gentleman." 

It was about this time that ray brother William one day 
came smiling into my office and informed me that he had some 
very important news to impart. Ben Wicks had surrendered! 
Now such an announcement required some sort of explana- 
tion. When that had been given I somewhat doubted Mr. 
Wick's sincerity. He was about to lose a considerable num- 
ber of his most trusty " nigros " because there was no school 
in his neighborhood. This would have been a serious loss 
to him. Therefore it was that he had first petitioned and 
then come in person to ask that '^ a nigger school " might 
be " started" on his plantation. But it was cause for con- 
gratulation nevertheless. Once started on that road, if we 
could keep it open there was a chance that he, even Ben 
Wicks, might experience a real change of heart. Mr. Foote 
and the leaders in the A. M. E. Church had seen and expe- 
rienced enough during the "insurrection" which followed 
the death of Mr. Hilliard, to raise doubts in their minds as ta 
the wisdom of their hostihty to Yankees. They had sup- 
ported Mr. Hilliard because they had faith in him, and could 
see no danger in the fact that his chief counsellors and sup- 
porters were among the leaders of the irreconcilablep. The 
suddenness and the vigor of the attack made upon the county 
government, together with the appointment of Mr. Powell 
to be sheriff, had alarmed them, and from this time on they 
were among my most stalwart supporters. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 43>1 



CHAPTER LXV. 

A GROWING SEASON IN YAZOO — MORE STRAW FOR BRICKS — BRICK! 
WITHOUT STRAW — AS COVERING FOR A PURE HEART AND AN 
ENLIGHTENED MIND WHICH IS MOST BEAUTIFUL, A DARK OR 
A LIGHT SKIN ? 

THE period from 1869 to 1875 in Yazoo was one of sub- 
stantial, and as I now look back upon it, of wonderful pro- 
gress. When once we had fairly entered on our work and the 
incrustations of slavery surrounding the hearts and the minds 
of the people, ^' both black antl wLito," began to yield under 
the fructifying power of liberty — liberty restrained by just 
and equal laws — there seemed almost no limit to their expan- 
sion. The school rooms provided were filled full, the capa- 
city of the teachers taxed to the uttermost, the kinks wrought 
in the mental fibres of the people by the most — by African 
slavery, were rapidly untangling, and the infections which 
that foul leper had scattered abroad in the social and political 
body were being rapidly expelled. Men and women who, 
born into a world that forbade them to aspire, to hope or to 
die, had never reahzed a picture, began to make them. 
What if the result was a daub ! In the sight of Him who 
made us all it was beautiful, nay it was perfect. It was 
more than a prayer. It was Peter on the water before he 
began to sink. In Yazoo, under our planting, the daub took 
on form and beauty until all said it was a picture. The irre- 



432 YAZOO : OR, 

•concilables were not pleased with it. It was a rebuke to 
them, and how dare^' our nigros " presume to do that ! It 
was more, it was a menace, a perpetual menace. It menaced 
the hoary and time-honored privilege of a "white" to be 
the superior of a " black!" But Grant was still President, 
and there still remained a Kepublican majority in Congress. 
Therefore, rave ever so madly, we had no fear that any rebel 
would be allowed to thrust his fist through our picture, nor to 
cut it, nor to use it for a target, while at pistol practice. So 
the negroes, men and women, held up their heads, walked 
upon the side-walk, when they were in town, even dared to 
sue at law a white and take away a coat or gown, " sassed 
hack," and often " struck back," and I never knew one to 
refuse to employ a white man or woman to do theirdrudgery 
for them solely because of their complexion. Still more 
wonderful and incredible was the conduct of Aunt Sophia — 
Mrs. Sophia Waters, I should have said; for times had 
indeed changed in Yazoo, Mrs. Waters was no longer Aunt 
Sophia. But I am approaching dangerous ground now, and 
out of respect to the feelings of some of my readers shall 
tread lightly. Mrs. Waters was a colored lady; she had been 
the slave of old Judge Fox, up to the time of the arrival of 
the " Bureau " at Yazoo. Since that event she had accumu- 
lated some property. She at one time had money laid by, 
but the Freedman's Bank swallowed that — for a season at 
least. She also had a daughter, a real beauty, quite advanced 
in her studies and a ver}- sensible girl. Judge Fox's son 
Dick fell in love with Josephine, Mrs. Waters' daughter,and 
■" wanted " her, but neither the girl nor the mother would 
receive him upon any other terms than as a suitor for her 
hand in marriage. Now Judge Fox was rich, so everybody 
said, and both he and Mrs. Fox loved Dick dearly. Dick 
became almost distracted and begged his mother for her con- 
sent. The plan was to marry and sail awaj' to some land 
where a woman was a woman for aye that, and aye that. 
The mother at last consented, but the father, old, and near 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 433 

•death's door, raved and protested until she withdrew it. 
Then a conspiracy was formed to obtain the girl for Dick 
according to the prevailing custom in that region wdien the 
high-contracting parties are on opposite sides of the caste 
line. Whether they accomplished their purpose or not, I 
■cannot now say, but it would seem that they did, for, shortly 
afterward, Dick consented to take a white girl to be his 
wife; of course the white girl consented too. 

Alas ! the fathers of the Congressional plan of reconstruc- 
tion, had they been able to have anticipated such things, 
could never have framed a law to meet such a case, nor 
such as the following. The papers never mentioned it. 
They could not, one of the prerequisites to its fitness for the 
columns of the Democrat or of our Banner, was still wanting 
in 1875. Zealous efforts had been put forth by " high-toned, 
honorable gentlemen " and ladies all along the family tree, 
even to the very roots, of the persons who were directly con- 
cerned; a white man and his white wife. These etibrta 
failed to discover any trace whatever, even by that ^* surest 
•of all tests," the finger nails, of negro blood in the family of 
either, yet — well, everybody said the child was a mulatto. It 
was ii high-toned family. Being such, and there being no 
trace of negro blood anywhere to be found in any of its ances- 
tors, it could not be said to have '' breed back on the nigro." 
It could only be a *^ freak of nature." That settled it — i. e. 
nature settled it, and the husband joyfully recognized his 
own.* Of all the bright, quick-witted, modest and aspiring 
young girls in the Sabbuth-school Charles and the General 
organized in the little church on the hill we helped to build. 
Susie Poindexter was first. Her ability to memorize was 
something marvelous. She rarely recited her lesson with- 
out reciting also an entire chapter, which she had herself 
•eelected. Susie was a good girl; but eight years old when 
she began, in the winter of 1867-'8, now, in 187 i, she was 
fourteen. Her parents had taken a just pride in her develop- 

♦He-eeiit the boy North to be brouijht up 



434 YAZOO ;: OR, 

ment, and we all hoped that she would be able to acquire a 
sufficiently thorough education to fit her for excellent ser- 
vice as a school teacher. We had no fears for her morals. 
She was a strong, high-minded girl, but just at the point 
where the "brook and river meet," I lost sight for a time 
of Susie. When finally I met her it was upon the street. 
Her former pleasure at meeting me thus, and her grateful 
smile and courtesy were lacking. She appeared anxious to 
avoid me, and had a guilty look upon her face. At once 
realizing the truth, I set on foot inquiries which resulted in 
informing me that a " high-toned, honorable gentleman," one- 
of Yazoo's " best citizens," was revelling in the " personal 
satisfaction " of having entangled upon his hook, while fish- 
ing upon the " inferior side of th« line," one of " Morgan's 
black pets." When next I met Susie I held out my hand to 
her and greeted her with all the afifection I had formerly 
manifested toward her. Then she began to cry. Still hold- 
ing on to her hand, I asked her to come and see my wife,, 
and talk it over with her. At this she cried all the more,, 
and replying through her sobs: "Oh, Colonel Morgan, it 
ain't no use for me to try, I'm nothing but a nigger anyway." 
She withdrew her hand and ran away. Susie Poindexter was 
but one of the number who began with such bright pros- 
pects, only to fall away. Some met ruin in their own home. 
The Sabbath-school and the day school were the only places 
where they could stand without besmearing, themselves with 
pitch. If perchance it was not within the dwelling of their 
parents, it was likely to he in that of their mistress or 
employer, and almost always upon the streets,, or in the fields 
where, during a large part of th>e year, they were required to 
work. At all times liable to the grossest vulgarities and 
obscenities from white youth and men, and from black, too,, 
the wonder is that many more- were not defiled than there 
were. The fact is, the aspiring young colored girl, black or 
light complexioned, has always had to contend with such a 
multitude of obstacles that those whO' have conquered theuL 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM, 435''- 

are entitled to wear a crowii in this world, as well as in the 
next. 

Had we any such in Yazoo ? 

Yes, more than a few. The Emancipation Proclamation 
of Mr. Lincoln wiped out forever all stains upon the charac- 
ters of colored women that affected their reputation for 
chastity and womanly purity. In the eye of all the civihzed 
world it was to them a new birth, and every colored woman 
who realized the fact, and entered purposely into the battle 
of life by the new path, ought to have been and should 
hereafter be recognized by every true American woman or 
man, as the equal of the noblest in the land. Thus I believed 
and taught during my " dictatorship " in Yazoo, and thus T 
still believe, and mean to continue to teach. The result in 
Yazoo was to inspire colored women with the belief that the 
new path led out of Egypt to the promised land, where a-f 
pure heart, and an enlightened mind possibly might so light 
up a dark covering that it would be merely a question ofi 
taste which, the light or the dark skin, was most beautiful. 



436 YAZOO; or, 



CHAPTER LXVl. 

ABOUT NIGRO RISINGS — THE WOLIT AND THE LAMB — SIGNS OF THE 
E^D — WAS IT A RACE CONFLICT — PREACHING STATE SOVER. 
EIGNTY AND PRACTICING THE OPPOSITE — SPECIMENS OF SUPE- 
RIAH STRATEGY AND STATESMANSHIP — COONS IN THE CANE 
BRAKES — A HUNDRED SCALPS — A PEACE-MEETING — RESOLU- 
TIONS. 

EIGHTEEN hundred and seventj-four was a memorable 
year in Yazoo politics. The " Ohio idea," respecting 
" local self-government " and local sovereigntj^ vs. the sover- 
eignty of the individual, so aptl}' illustrated in that State in 
the person of Governor Allen, was bearing rich fruitage in 
Mississippi, where it was most happily illustrated in the per- 
sons of the human hornet, Colonel Black, Judge Isam, 
Captain Telsub and George M. Towell, 

TheEepublican idea represented in Mississippi in the person 
of Governor Ames, had done battle with the Ohio idea on 
its chosen field in Mississippi, our Yazoo stubble-ground, and 
overcame it. Peace had come again in Yazoo. But just 
outside our borders, on the south, in the county of Warren, 
the Ohio idea, and certain other ideas, appeared to stay. 
They were to have a charter election in the city of Vicks- 
burg, Warren County, and for months in advance of it the 
irreeoncilables there had been preparing for the " war of 
races," which they assumed was "about" to occur. Kow 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 437 

those irreconcilables in Vicksburg, like their brethren in 
Yazoo, professed to beheve in local self-government, and all 
the time protested against outside interference. But while 
openly doing that they were secretly making provision for 
as much aid for their cause from the outside as they should 
need for their purposes. All sorts of false reports of "nigro 
risings," '' nigros threatening to burn the city," and so forth^ 
were manufactured by them and published throughout the 
State, in their newspapers, and by special couriers. As a 
result of these measures, about the first of August reports 
came to me that there were three " independent military 
companies " being organized in the southern part of the 
county, and that they were '^ patrolling " their respective 
neighborhoods, disarming colored men whenever they were 
found with any kind of weapon, arresting some, and terror- 
izing all. To ascertain the truth about those reports, I sent 
out two deputiep,both white men and ex-confederate officers^ 
and a colored man, into the neighborhood of these ''compa- 
nies '"' with instructions to quietly travel about among the 
people and ascertain the truth. One of the deputies reported 
to me that he- had found a " company " of white men under 
arms and drilling. He knew the " captain " well, and was 
informed by him that the organization was not for service in 
Yazoo County, but in response to calls for help from the white 
citizens of Vicksburg, who were hourly expecting an attack 
by a "mob of infuriated nigros," who were " threatening to 
burn the town." This deputy obtained from that " com- 
mander " the oath which each member had sworn and signed 
his name to, which I have preserved, and which is as fol- 
lows: 

" AuorsT 4, 1874. 
" "We, the undersigned citizens of Yazoo County, Mississippi, hereby 
pledge our word and honor that we will support and protect each 
other and families through this present condition of excitement and 
danger; and that we further pledge our honor to send our aid and 
assistance to any part of the State that may be suffering from such 
danger; and we firmly declare that we do not assemble in arms for 
the purpose of violating any of the laws of the United States or of 



438 YAZOO; OR, 

the State of M ssissippi, but for the purpose of protecting our homes 
•from the hands of ruthless bands of armed men that have been 
reported to us as assembling in this county and adjoining counties, 
-contrary to the laws of the United States and the State of Missis - 
-sippi. 

W. T. BAIX. J. KiTCHUM. 

T. B. Brown. S. J. Williams 

T. J. Harrell. J. P. Gray. 

J. M. Guilders. T. J. H. Jacksox. 

F. S. Dixon. C. K. Kase. 

R. r. Galden. E. T. Neeley. 

T. C. White. W. Atkinson. 

W. R. Smith, T. F. Louis. 

R. E. Garry. J. W. Castlys. 

M. ^Y. Whalen. F. B. Johnson. 

. J. McMackmaster. L. L. Wetherford. 

B. Y. Brown, J. C. Gray. 

.R. W\ Bain. R. Hope. 

M. M. Langford. "W. F. Galden. 

S. A. Clunan. F. Fulcher. 

D. H. Saulter. J. P. Bailey. 

S. K. Herring. M. R. Brown. 

J. R. Cauly. F. O. Colton. 

H. Carly. 
The reader will note that the " oath " which this " mili- 
tary company " swore and subscribed to, did not designate 
the color of the " ruthless bands of armed men." Kor did it 
desio-uate precisely the neighborhood where such bands were 
to be found, nor say that there were any such bands. On 
the contrary all the subscribers seemed to know of such 
" assembling " was what had been reported to them. My 
■deputy reported that after talking with them a few moments 
they appeared to be ashamed of themselves, and shortly 
afterward separated to their homes. Among the number 
were some of the worst as well as the best young white men 
of the county. F, S. Dixon was a brother of the human 
hornet. 

The man sent to Dover made a similar report, as to the 
Dover company, except that its members appeared not to be 
at all ashamed of what they were doing, and gloried in it. 
The oath which they had sworn and subscribed and the 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 439 

•object of their organization, \va3 similar to that of the for- 
mer company. 

The third organization, nearer to A-^icksburg than the other 
two, was "out on a scout " with their "Warren County breth- 
ren, and couhi not be got at. 

Now every member of those companies, an 1 their aiders 
and abettors, knew that I was the sheritt" and chief peace- 
officer of the county, yet not a word had reached my ears of 
the cause of their complaint, from any one of their number, 
■until 1 sought for it as I have related. My first information 
of their organizations came from a colored man living near 
Dover, wlio had had his squirrel gun taken from him by 
members of the company. 

Reports of " nigro insurrection " again became common 
throughout the State. One was reported in Tunica County, 
about the centre of the swamp region, and General Chal- 
mers, in command of an army, recruited largely from Mem- 
phis and other parts of Tennessee, and which was variously 
estimated in the public prints at from two to ten thousand 
white men, crowded on steamers chartered at Memphis for 
the purpose, hurried to the scene, creating terror and con- 
eternation among the negroes wherever they appeared. 
Democratic newspapers throughout the State, and the South, 
•contained vivid accounts of the " ravages of the negroes," 
and of the courage and chivalric conduct of General Chal- 
mers and his brave men, thus rushing to the rescue of the 
^' white men and women from the cradle up," of far away 
Tunica. We eraploj'ed different means for suppressing the 
*' rising " about to occur in Yazoo at this juncture. 

The Democrat appeared with a " blood in the eye " edito- 
rial on the affidavit of one Simon Battaile, which it published, 
and which exposed what Simon said he knew of a " deep- 
laid, dark and damnable plot" on the part of the negroes to 
<' rise" and so forth, and the Bemoend, and also the Bunner, 
called on ^' our people" to arm and prepare for it. 

Now it BO happened that Simon was one I had for several 



410 fAZOO; OR, 

days been searching for with a warrant for his arrest on a 
charge of grand larceny. But here he was now, " exposing ^' 
this so-called " nigro rising," In less than twenty-four hours 
I had Simon in jail, where he confessed to me that he knew 
nothing of any " rising" more than he had heard that the 
colored people were planning for a celebration* of some sort 
to be held at Yazoo City. He had done this thing in order 
to secure the aid and sympathy of the " best citizens " to help 
him out of his own trouble.! The prompt exposure of Simon'^s 
part in the conspiracy of the irreconcilables to compel " our 
nisfros to rise," which was made in the columns of our 
Yazoo Republican, postponed the rising, however. During- 
this time the excitement prevailing at other points in the 
State, which had been created by the efforts of the irrecon- 
cilables '' to send their aid and assistance " to their brethren 
at Vicksburg, who were engaged in a " last ditch struggle " 
for the " supremacy of the white race, and the preservation of 
Southern civilization and honah, by G — d, sir," was not gen- 
eral in Yazoo. It was made so, however, by the arrival at 
Yazoo City, one morning, of a steamboat from Yicksburg, 
which brought an appeal from " our people " there, for arms. 
It continued on up the river, stopping at all the principal 
landings, spreading the appeal and gathering up all the 
double-barrelled shot-guns and rifles that were olfored for the 
purpose. Upon its return I went on board and saw the 
captain, who informed me that he was gathering the weapona 
for the use of himself and crew, for defense against a '^mob 
of nigros gathered upon the river's bank" below Sartartia,. 
for the purpose of "capturing" his boat when it should 
return to Vicksburg. I placed a deput}', an ex-confederate 
officer, on the boat, with instructions to accompany it to the 
county line, and to arrest all persons who might appear with 
arms to do violence against it, or any one on board. He did 
so, got off at the line and returned by laud. He reported 
that he had not been able to find any negroes with arms. On 

*A frequent annual gathering upon the close of the summer's work, and before cot- 
ton nicking commences. 

tTuc sequel proved their fidelity to him, for he escaped the legal penalty for his- 
crime of grand larceny. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 441 

the contrary, they all appeared to be in distress at the violent 
proceedings of some of the whites', who were leaving that 
part of the county with their arms for the purpose of giving 
aid to their brethren at Vicksburg, 

All the proceedings I have mentioned occurred about the 
same time. I was able to preserve the peace of the county- 
and protect the colored people only by ceaseless watchfulness 
and tireless effort, day and night. I employed at my own 
expense a number of special deputies, through whom I was 
able to keep myself informed of the plans and purposes of 
the enemy. One of the armed '-'companies" had already 
separated to their homes. To the " captain " of the Dover 
" company" I wrote the following: 

''Yazoo City, Awjust G, 1S74. 

"Dear Sir: I have iuforaiation, by me deemed reliable, establish- 
hig the following points : 

" 1st. There are three companies of armed white men in that portion 
of the county lying south of the Yazoo City, Vaughan's station road. 
W. T. Bain is captain of one. Dr. Robinson, J. K. Bell and others, 
officers in another. I have not yet ascertained the name of the otli- 
cers of the other company. 

" 2d. These companies are organized with the puUlc purpose of pro- 
tecting their wives and families, their property and homes, against 
armed bands of colored men ' reported ' as organized against law in 
the county, and they ' furthermore pledge our honor to send our aid 
and assistance to any part of the State that may be suffering from such 
danger." * * * 

"My deputies have traveled over the entire portion of the 
country infested by the ' white ' organizations referred to, and 
are unable to And out the existence of any armed bands of colored 
men. Had the citizens of that portion good reasons to apprehend 
danger to their person and property from the colored people, it was 
their duty to have reported their fears to me. It is my duty to exe- 
cute the laws and preserve the peace in my county. I shall endeavor 
to do my duty. 

"■ These armed bands of men, for whatever purpose organized, are 
unlawful. When the executive power of the county, as established 
by lavA'-, shall have been found unable to preserve the peace, such 
organizations may be necessary and justifiable; until then they are 
unnecessary, unlawful, unjustifiable, and in contempt of authority, 
and it is my sworn duty to suppress them. Every portion of the 
county except that mentioned above is now enjoying profound peace 
and quiet. I regret to find that the peace and quiet of any portion of 



442 YAZOO; OR, 

the county should be disturbed; more especial! j' do I regret it when 
I consider the character and standing of the fanners who are being 
drawn into the organizations referred to. If necessary, I shall send 
a sufficient number of deputies into your neighborhood to preserve 
the peace. I feel sure that your companies of armed white meu will 
promptly disband, and that the bearer hereof, Mr. J. R. Redding, one 
of my deputies, will have no trouble in preventing ' night-patrolmen ' 
from doing further violeuce to the laws, or to the rights of colored 
citizens to travel the highways of the county unmolested. Mr. Red- 
ding has full and specific instructions from me. * * ♦ 

'• A. T. Morgan, 

"J. E. Bell, Esq. ''Sheriff.'' 

The night-riding and interferen3e with p9aceable colored 
people suddenly ceased, but the result vv^as due, doubtless, not 
so much to the respect of this •' captain " or of his follow- 
ers, for my authority, as to the fact that the election at 
Vicksburg had passed, the irreconcilubles there had tri- 
umphed, and '^ assistance " was no longer needed. But 
their victory cost them dear, for it was at the time said that 
fully one hundred colored people were killed before they 
surrendered to " the superiah strategy and statesmanship " of 
their former masters,* 

In Yazoo my efiorts were seconded by all the colored 
people and by nearly all the whites who were not of the irre- 
concilables, or of the sleuth-hound class, 

A largely-attended ^'peace-meeting" was held in the town, 
at which our Senator, our postmaster, the pastors of the col- 
ored churches, Mr. Foote, our '• little old orator " and myself, 
were speakers. The following resolutions were unanimously 
adopted: 

From the Yazoo City Herald, Republican: 

" Whereas, owing to recent occurrences of violence and bloodshed 
in many parts af the country, especially in Tennessee, Louisiana, and 
more recently in Mississippi, at Austin, in Tunica County, and to 
other causes not necessary to mention here, the minds of the people 
of Yazoo County have become greatly disturbed and excited, so much 
that two of our local newspapers, one in an extra and the other in a 
cool and well-matured article in its columns, advise the Avhite people 
to organiz ■ and arm for ' self protection;" and 

«Tlu' following w:is wired by one of the victors at that election to the chairman of 
the Vazoo I)i'ino(?ratie Committee, which may explain the kind of assistance required 
there. The word "coon " signities negro. 

" Coons in the kanebrakes. We have taken a hundred scalps, and are masters of the 
situation. " K. O. Leaky, Mayor" 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 443 

" "Whereas certain white citizens of this county, prior to and on the 
•day of the election lately held in Yicksburg, were armed and organ- 
ized and ready to march at a moment's warning; and 

'• Whereas the necessity of tliis arming and organizing is based upon 
the pretense that the freed men of the county are engaged in plotting 
Yiolence against the white people of tlie county, and are organizing 
in leagues and societies of a secret character and are arming; and 

" Whereas we believe the banding together of white men, or colored 
men, in military organizations, in secret societies, or companies, in 
times of domestic peace, when the courts are in full possession of 
all their powers, and the chosen officers to execute the laws in the 
full and perfect possession and enjoyment of all tlie powers and func- 
tions of office, is revolutionary and wicked, and calculated by its usur- 
pation of authority and disregard of the Constitution and laws of the 
country, to lead to anarchy, the destruction of liberty, and the ruin 
of the State ; and 

" Whereas certain newspapers published in this and other States, 
notably in Vicksburg, advocate the arrangement of political parties on 
grounds of color or race distinctions, assuming that this Government 
of ours ' was created by white men, and to be ruled by M'hite men' — 

" liesolved, That we regret the violent conflicts that have occurred 
betAveen the white and colored people of our own and sister States, 
and denounce the originators of these acts of violence as enemies to 
good government. 

' • licsolved, That we know of no secret or other organizations among 
the colored people of this county, which have for their object the 
organiz:\,tioii of military ba uls, or the procuring of arms for any 
object or purpose whatever, and that we believe the colored people 
are entirely witliout arms or ammunition, suitable for aggressive or 
defensive warfare, and that we know of no purpose or intention on 
the part of any of the freedmen of this county, either to organize, 
arm, or in any manner assume an attitude toward their white fel- 
low-citizens other than one of peace and good-will. * ♦ * 

'■'Resolved, That we denounce the attempt made at Vicksburg, and 
contemplated at other points of the State, to organize political parties 
upon grounds of race or color, rather than upon measures of public 
policy or the ability, character, or virtues of men, whether such 
attempts be made or contemphited by one race or the other, as perni ■ 
cious, wicked, and destructive of all the principles upon which our 
Government is founded, and we pledge ourselves, each to the other, 
to oppose all such attempts, by whomsoever m.ide, with all our influ- 
ence and our votes. 

"■liesolved, That our form of government was created by the people 
and for the people, and, by the grace of God and the inherent virtues 
•of all the people, shall not perish from off the face of the earth." 



44i YAZOO; OR, 



CHAPTER LXVII. 

NEGRO LAND-OWNERS — OLE MARSTAH'S CARRIAGE RECONSTRUCTED 
— A BLACK CLOUD — CAPTAIN CRAPO'S SOLUTION OF THE RACE 
PROBLEM — A BETTER ONE THAN CRAPO'S — MAJOR SNODGRASS' 
SOLUTION OF THE SAME — DID MASSACHUSETTS SOLVE IT — A 
TIDAL WAVE — MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRATIC — EXULTANT TEARS 
— JUBILANT JOHNNIE REBS — WHAT MAJOR GIBBS SAID ABOUT 
IT — '' PEACEABLY IF WB CAN, FO'CIBLY IF WE MUST" — 
'' SIXTEEN HUNDRED ARMY GUNS " AND OTHER GUNS — A '^NIGRO 
RISING." 

ACCORDING to estimates made by myself in the fall of 
1874, there were at that time three hundred colored men 
owning real estate in Yazoo County. These holdings varied 
from a small house and lot in town, to more than two thou- 
sand acre tracts of cotton and corn land. 

Several of the colored planters were in quite independent 
circumstances. Their wives and their daughters no longer 
worked in the cotton and corn fields. Each one owned a 
carriage, not always of the best pattern, to be sure, but ample 
for the family and sufficiently elegant in appointments for 
country use^s. In some instances it was " ole marstah's " 
family carriage reconstructed. Many more colored men 
owned live s^tock; horses, mules, cows, sheep, hogs, and chick- 
ens innumerable. The total real value of the property of 



ox THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 445 

the colored people of Yazoo at that date, was not less than 
a million and a half dollars. The^^ were in truth rising. 
Indeed there was danger that •* our nigros " would^ hefore 
lo'tjg, " own the whole country." 

Besides, the overthrow of free government in the sur- 
ronnding States, particularly in Alabama and Tennessee, 
was forcing the more enterprising colored families into Mis- 
sissippi, where, under our Republican government, there was 
better security for persons, and more certain returns for their 
toil. This negro immigration was styled by the irreconcilables, 
a " black cloud threatening the supremacy of the white race." 
The marvelous fecundity of that race, their physical strength 
and powers of endurance, their wonderful progress in the 
science of politics, and their boundless ambition, as fully 
recognized by the leading minds among the enemy as by 
myself, and much more than by the people of theiSTorthlaud, 
had completely changed the aspect of the free negro question 
from one of doubt and sincere apprehension of his ability 
to survive, to one of the white man's ability to do so while 
in the presence of the negro and while the conditions of 
existence were equal. The greatest minds in the State, on 
the " superior side of the line," were gravely debating the 
question, which would be the wiser policy for the white 
man, emi<;ration and the abandonment of the State to the 
negro, or a general arming of the white race with the 
purpose of checking by force the " threatened supremacy " 
of the negro race. To such persons these were the only alter- 
natives. 

Trained in the schools of slavery — African shivery at 
that — they could not bring themselves to contemplate the 
possibility of an equal race with equal burdens, between the 
dwellers upon the two sides of the arbitrary caste line, which 
the existence of that system of slavery had made essentiid to 
its perpetuity. 

Miscegenationists in practice, as the complexion of more 
than half the negro population amply attested, they pre- 



446 YAZOO OR, 

tended to abhor amalgamation because it was an unnatural' 
and therefore unhealthful relation of the races. This pre- 
tense was as hypocritical and insincere as were their profes- 
sions of loyalty to the Constitution of the United States, and 
of the State, in their provisions guaranteeing the civil and 
political equality of the negro. Their conduct upon these 
questions was prompted by their desire to preserve and per- 
petuate the caste line, well knowing that its destruction 
meant the destruction of the white man's time-honored privi- 
lege of ruling the negro, and the desire sprang from their 
lusts, 

Now no one advocated amalgamation as a solution of the 
" race problem." The Republicans of Yazoo advocated 
equality ; not the equalitj^ of unequals ; that would be 
impracticable; but the equality of all in public burdens and 
public privileges. If that should result in the overthrow of 
privileges the result would be none other than just. And if 
the final result should be amalgamation ? Why should that 
question concern " we all Yankees " in Yazoo ? The first 
time a " white" looked upon a " black " did he ask himself,, 
the black or any of the bystanders whether he must marry 
one ? 

When the first cargo of African slaves were landed upon 
our soil, was that question asked or considered ? The union 
of the States with slavery was intolerable, impossible. When 
Mr, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, and, when 
the amendments to the Constitution confirming that procla- 
mation were ratified, was the question whether a white should 
be forced to marry a black allowed to have weight against 
the policy or justice of those acts ? 

For one, I did not have time to stop and consider the 
question. There were weightier subjects claiming my atten- 
tion. Captain Crapo, a leading merchant of Yazoo and one 
of our " best citizens," was my next-door neighbor. His 
children by his lawful wife, and those by his favorite concubine, 
a quite numerous and iuterestiug family as a whole, at play, 



o:n the picket line of freedom. 447 

altogether, just like anj otber " happy family," were the "soqial 
superiors " of my two toddlers — a boy and girl — because their 
" paw" was a "white gentleman" and I was only a "mean, low- 
down Yankee." EoertjboJy said mine were the prettiest, and 
all that, yet, those children and my children never got closer 
together than when they peeped at each other between the 
pickets on the fence which divided our yards, except once 
when some member of the " happy family " had removed one 
of the pickets, and a seven-year-old " white " member of that 
family was caught, by our nurse, holding in her lap and 
fondling, just as any other "little mother" would do, our 
boy, Albert T. Morgan, Jr., whose massy golden curls were 
her especial delight. The excellent wife of a very "promi- 
nent citizen," having stood it as long as she could, consider- 
ing the close proximity of Mrs. Morgan, and the example of 
her husband, one day worked herself into such a rage over 
it that she took matters into her own hand, and literally 
drove her husband's concubine, bag and baggage, out of the 
house. Of course it was all charged to me ; all such things were 
as well as the poor crops, the " insolence of our nigros " and 
so forth. So in view of all these things — those happy families,, 
those angry wives, those insolent negroes, poor crops and 
so forth — I was in great concern for the future of the human, 
race, and every day found me asking myself what must be 
the end of such a vile system! And yet what could I, what 
was I going to do about it? My only hope was in our schools, 
in the little church we helped to build, and that other one^ 
(which was doini; equal if not better service in reforming 
this evil) the A. M. E. Church, and in the continuation of 
the " rising " then in progress. It was " simply a question 
of endurance," if we could hold the fort for a few years 
longer. 

jSTow all these questions had been in abeyance for five 
vears; that is, it had been agreed not to discuss them pub- 
licly. But the negro was rising. That fact forced these 
questions again to the front. During 1874 they formed the 



448 YAZOO; OR, 

absorbin^sj topic of discussion, some among tlie enemy openly 
advocated the application of force in the solution of the 
question. With his superior intellect and with vastly 
superior means at hand, it would not be difficult for the white 
race to ^' put down" the negro, if the attempt was not too 
1 mg delayed. 

Easy-going, well-meaning *' Christian " men like Major 
Snodgrass, reasoned about it thus: The well-being of society 
requires a privileged class to act in the mechanism of the 
social structure as a sort of balance wheel. That the negro 
is inferior is evident from his history. That the white man 
is the superior of the negro is not questioned. Should we 
undertake to build up our balance-wheel of both black and 
white material the quantity of white matter displaced will 
equal the bulk of black matter absorbed. That degrades the 
white man. ISTow degraded white men and negroes are 
equals. What if the two should suddenly unite? In such 
an event unless the privileged class outnumbered the degraded 
class, the balance-wheel might fly olf and the machine go 
to pieces. 

Thus Major Snodgrass reasoned, and thereupon concluded 
that it were better to preserve the old line, and maintain the 
superiority of all white men at whatever cost. 

The ^//?ner was a conservative paper. Yet, it just could 

not help giving expression to its feelings thus: 

" North Carolina and Tennessee have gone Conservative by 
increased majorities. 'Oh, how these victories make us of Yazoo 
feel humiliation i * * + How long shall this state of things be 
allowed ? Would not death be preferable ? If so, then what V" 

And both in the B cnner and in the Democrat regularly 
appeared " communications '" and quotations suggestive of 
force as the true race solvent. While the questions were 
being thus discussed, the enemy had another revelati. ii. This 
time I was able to read the handwriting on the wall, but I 
shut my eyes and stubbornly refused to do so. 

Massachusetts gone Democratic ? Surely that was a lying 
dispatch, I would never believe it. But the next morning 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 449 

it was not a lie. It was the solemn truth. Ah ! how it 
hurt. All day the news came worse and worse, and the hurt 
grew worse. The irreconcilables could not believe their 
eyes. The enemy said it was too good to be true. The next 
•day there was more of the same sort. Then reading through 
their tears of exultation, the irreconcilables began to crow, 
and all the enemy to cackle. My! reading through my tears, 
how they did burn. But that would never do. I was cap- 
tain of the ship — " dictator." It,;[would not do to whine. 
Already Uncles Peter and Jonathan and Pomp and the pas- 
tor of the httle church we helped to ^build, and the " guard " 
and all the rest were asking me what it all meant. What 
should I say ? What ought I to say ? Putting on a bold 
front I said it meant that the enemy had captured our maga- 
zine, but we still held the fort. Therefore it meant nothing. 

The " tidal wave " not only engulfed MassachusettSj it 
swallowed up the tlouse of Representatives in Congress. 

Friends, colored men, came from '' way below Sartartia, 
^jinin' on to Warren County," from Dover, from Silver 
Creek, from Bentonia, and from " way yan in Homes 
Oounty," to learn from me what the matter was. 

" Gleboss " — it was boss and no longer" mars," with many 
colored men in 1874 — " Ole boss actin' very queer 'bout 
some thing or other''* some said. 

" The Captain boun' to say they has got we all now," 
others said, " kase de Yankees gone back on us." Mr. Foote, 
Mr. Burrus, Mr. Dickson, Elder Jackson, Rev. Mr. Gibbs, 
sister Rachel, and most of the solid colored people looked 
very grave and anxious. They not only read the news for 
themselves, they also interpreted it. 

The enemy had not only read, they were "jubilating." 
They came from everywhere, on horseback, by " companies," 
in carriages, and on foot. Their leaders interpreted the 
news to them while speaking from the balconies, dry goods 

*In Yazoo colored men had also, improved very greatly in their manner of po]> 
jnouncing English words. 

29ir 



450 YAZOO ; OR, 

boxes, and from wagons, in the light of huge bonfires, 
far into the night. Massachusetts had " wheeled into 
line!" had "repudiated the carpet-bagger! " had " put its 
protest on record against nigro rule !" The " carpet-baggers 
and scalawags would have to go now !" Less than two 
weeks before, the most brilliant orator of that occasion, in a 
private conversation with me, had confessed the superiority 
of jSTorthern civilization over that of the South, expressed 
regret for the past conduct of himself and Southern leaders^ 
and led me to hope that he would at an early day declare 
himself a Republican, but it was all over now. 

Not long afterward and near midnight, just as the last one 
of the crowd of tax -payers that had tilled my ojaice since early 
morning, had been waited on, and I had put away in the strong 
vault the day's cash receipts, two large planters from near 
Dover, who had been belated, entered and wished to settle 
their taxes. It was " the last day," and of course I obliged 
them. One was my opponent for the Senate in 1869. We 
had been on none other than friendly terms ever since that 
event. The other was an equally large planter, and gen- 
tleman of prominence. Of course we were soon "talking 
politic-'." In the course of which, the major, my aforesaid 
opponent, had the goodness to inform me that everybody 
believed I was an honest man, and meant to do for the best;, 
that my course as leader and " dictator" in Yazoo had been 
upright and wise; that Yazoo's exemption from the multi- 
tude of evils that " nigro rule " had inflicted upon some 
other localities in the State, was due to me; that I had made 
a good Senator, and was making a better record as sherifi* 
and tax collector; that "our people" were especially pleased 
at the thoroughness with which I was enforcing the collec- 
tion of '' delinquent taxes" especially of "the nigros" {he 
no longer said " ow nigros ") ; that he had no especial com- 
plaint to make against our local government. The taxes 
had been rather heavy, but then, we had given them some- 
thing in return; and, after all, the " nigros " paid the taxes. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 451 

Personally he regarded me very highly, and would like to 
see me prosper. But, as my friend, he would say, I should 
have to quit my party. It had been repudiated at the North, 
even by Massachusetts, its mother, because it had grown to 
be so corrupt that no honest man could longer stay with it and 
look his neighbor in the eye. I bad passed many trials and 
dangers in Mississippi, and was entitled to some reward. 
" Our people made fools of themselves at the beginning and 
your party took advantage of we all's folly to perpetuate its 
power. We have learned wisdom. No one objects to the 
iiigros votin' now. But the white man objects ionigrorule^ 
and won't submit to it any longer. It's time for yo' to quit 
yo'r ship. It is sinking mighty fast, and it'll keep on till it 
reaches bottom. With yo'r suppo't we could carry the 
county without any trouble at all. But. with or without it, 
we have made up ou' minds that we can, and by the Eternal, 
we will carry the county next time." 

" Whew ! Major, how'U you do it ? Recollect, my 
majority was 1,934 only two years ago, and your party was 
then ' hopelessly ' divided." 

" Thar's been a mighty change since then. The whole 
country is tired of free -love Beecher, Credit Mobilier, and. 
radical corruption. We won't harm you all unless yo' gel 
in ou' way." 

" Who do you mean by you all ?" 

" Why! yo' all Yankees and nigros — yo' party." 

" But you forget that full as many of you all voted for me 
at last election as for my opponent." 

" That was a choice of evils, and things have changed 
Do yo' reckon we all's gwain to 'low ou' people to split np 
so long as the nigros remain solid faw yo'r party ? That^s 
just what's been the matter all the while yo'all's been jsl 
powah. We all couldn't help ou'selves. But now you'1! 
see." 

" Our party was never more united than now. Whenyoa 
Democrats have succeeded in overcoming our two thousand 
majority, I hope I may still be here to see." 



452 YAZOO; or, 

" I hope yo'll stand from under. It'll save we all a heapo' 
trouble. I tell yo' we all white people have made up ou' 
minds that we can, and we are going to carry this county 
next time. Peaceably, if we can, but fo'cibly if we must." 

Not very long afterward the Banner published the follow- 
ing correspondence, with comments calculated to stir the 
hearts of the people: 

" Demopolis, August 18, 1875. 
"Dear Sfr: I inclose to you the two letters, which are genuine, 
written by two negroes, Eddins and Sanders, who removed from this 
neighborhood last year to Yazoo City, in your State. These letters 
were in one envelope and addressed to a negro here named John 
Thompson. They may furnish the people of that portion of your 
State with timely warning to take steps for their safety, and I send 
them to you to use as your judgment may dictate. 

" W. E. Clarke. 
" Hernando Money, Esq., 

'* Winona, Miss.'''' 

Then follows the letter here given cerbaiim et literaiim: 

" Yazoo City, July 31, 1875. 
"Mr. Thompson My Dear 
friend, it is with Pleasure I write you this to inform u of some Po- 
litocal newse. They are preparing for the Election very fast & also 
for riots. They is a little place just 15 miles Below hear by the name 
of Starttia the colored people are buyin amonnition in Y'azoo City. 
The colored folks have got 1600 Army guns All prepared for Buss- 
ness. I wish you were out hear you must Be sure and come out this 
fcill if you please. Be sure and send me all the ue\v.-e and other 
Papers and that Rosgam off of the Pine Trees. I am still your wife. 

" Benjamin Franklin Eddin. 
We have no more to say at present But you must cum and liv with 
us next year if we liv But I still and so close James Remain 

Y'our Thrue 'friends, 

Benjamin Franklin 

Eddin 

and James Eed Sands.' " 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 453 



CHAPTER LXVIII. 



A PROPHECY FULFILLED — WHY GOVERNOR AMES FAILED TO OR- 
GANIZE THE MILITIA TRUSTING FREEDMEN AND WHAT BE- 
CAME OF THEM — THE WOLF AND THE LAMB — GRANT'S " PROM- 
ISE " — METHODS OF THE CONSPIRATORS — THE NIGHT BEFORE 
THE BATTLE — " HE'S A THIEF " — A SHOT HEARD ROUND YAZOO 
WHAT WAS IT — "READ, READ, READ !" — SPECIMENS OF NEWS- 
PAPER ENTERPRISE IN YAZOO — HOW DICK .^IITCHELL FORFEITED 
HIS LIFE. 

ur)EXJAMI>^- FRANKLI^T EDDIN and James Red 
J-) Sauds," whose letter closes the Last chapter, were 
mighty factors in the Mississippi election of 1875. But 
before mj- readers will be able to understand the signidcance 
to Mississippians of that communication it will be necessary 
to retrace my steps a little way. 

Remembering how bitterly they had been deceived in 
1867, when the same State gave an overwhelming majority 
against negro suffrage, many leading men and a great part 
of the enemy saw nothing in the election of " Old Bill 
Allen " in Ohio to excite any hope of relief from that quar- 
ter against '' Federal interference in Southern elections." So 
this class continued steadfast in their policy of cajolery and 
bribery of negroes and white Republicans, as the surer way 
to final control. 

To be sure they ha:! made little progress, as wa=« amply 
illustrated in Yazoo. This fact enabled irreconcilables who 
had the courage to act upon their judgment respecting the 
significance of Mr. Allen's election, to press home with some 
effect their arguments favoring the reconstruction of parties 
upon strictly race lines. In Vicksburg, particularly in War- 
ren County, there had been Republican maladministration 



4'54 YAZOO ; or, 

Therefore the irreconcilables succeeded in carrying the whites 
almost en m%sse into a contest which they openly and boast- 
fally proclaimed was one for the '■' supremacy of the white 
2?ace," and so styled their organization the " white man's 
iKirty." The result there was accepted by the irreconcilables, 
and by many others, throughout the State, as evidence of 
the greater efficacy of such an organization for the overthrow 
®f the Republican power in Mississippi. " Independent mili- 
tary companies," in Yazoo, as we have seen, made their first 
appearance August, 1874, and in that portion of the count}' 
•which was nearest to Vicksburg. We have also seen that 
tbeir professed object was to send " aid " to their brethren 
at Vicksburg. 

In the town of Yazoo City, where the vote had always 
l^en close, the Democrats that year succeeded in electing 
their ticket. The irreconcilables claimed the result as a tri- 
lamph of the " Vicksburg color line policy." But the mass 
iof the whites denied that it was, and manifested considerable 
ihostility to that policy. We have also seen what was the 
immediate effect upon Yazoo, of the " tidal wave " that 
eagulfed Massachusetts. 

But no sooner had the crowd of " Johnnie rebs " dispersed to 
their homes than our Yazoo world resumed its normal state. 
On the surface all was peace and good-will. But it was my 
iaty to know what was going on underneath the surface. 
I knew that the men who as often as once a week quietly 
Tode out of town to the fair grounds, or to the flats below 
Peak Tenarifl:'e, or, to those above town, were a secret mili- 
tary organization, and were engaged at target practice. I 
also knew that every effort possible was being put forth to 
persuade quiet, law-abiding young white men in the town to 
join this company ; that in the country, similar organiza- 
tions were being formed, and the very best young white men 
were being induced, upon one pretext or another, to join 
them ; that white women were foremost in the work of re- 
cruiting for those companies, and that the changes taking place 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 455 

in the official membership of the county strange, were proof 
of a design to make use of the machinery of that organization 
for the promotion of a movement for a reorganization of 
parties upon the race, or '• color-line." 

One day, during this period, a friend placed in my hand 
a book which he said was being secretly circulated through- 
out the State. Many of our 3'oung white men had alreadv 
read it. The author signed herself " Your Sister Sallie." 
The book was called " Sister Sallie." Sister Sallie was able 
to prove that the " land of Nod " was so called because its 
inhabitants were all lazy, sleepy, nodding negroes, who had 
been cast out of God's presence and made to dwell separate 
and apart from the whites, and she boldl}' and bravely 
declared that all the woes with which the South had been 
afflicted during the twenty years' war which the Yankees had 
waged against them, werd directly tracoable to the unnatu- 
ral and wicked relations which had previously existed between 
the white men of the South, her brethren, and their fejnale 
+?laves. The war, and "the great woe" of negro sutiVage, 
were God's judgments, sent upon her brethren for their 
rebellion against Him in that particular. Then she warned 
them that there was but one step remaining to complete 
their degrndation to the level of the negroes, and that was 
the ^^ marriage of their sister — their own, deali sister Sallie, 
to a buck negro." Proceeding to contrast special character- 
istics of the women of the two races, she proved conclusively, 
as she no doubt sincerely believed, " that white ladies" pos- 
sessed many and varied charms that were lacking in" negro 
women," and, that white was in every particular superior to 
black, since the whites were human beings, " God's own 
people," and the blacks were but " animals," who should 
never have been brought from their native country, the land 
of Nod. 

This remarkable woman closed this remarkable production 
with a heart-rending appeal to the chivalry of the State to 
save herself and her sisters from the terrible doom impend- 



466 YAZOO; ok, 

ing over them by the presence of the negroes in their midst, 
I read this book, and then, in conformity with my solemn 
promise, returned it to my friend. I have not since been 
able to procure a copy.* At the Xorth such a book could 
have had no effect. Not so in Mississippi. There old and 
young read it with avidity, and renewed their oaths of alle- 
giance to Sister Saliie and to King Cotton's " Table-round.'^ 

It was impossible for me not to see in all these prepara- 
tions a settled purpose on the part of the irreconcilables to 
take possession of the government by force if necessary. And 
although it was my duty as captain of the ship to maintain 
a conlident exterior, I knew that Major Gibbs was speak- 
ing the truth when he warned me, on the occasion I have 
mentioned, that such was not only their intention, but that 
they also believed in their ability to accomplish their pur- 
pose; for as the major, and others like him during that period, 
often declared, " we all hold the strings to Uncle Sam's- 
money-bag, at Washington, now." 

I visited the capital and stated to the Governor the facts I 
have here related, and was not at all surprised to learn from 
him that he was constantly in receipt of similar information 
from other Republican strongholds. The signs all pointed 
one way. There co;ild be no mistaking them. I attended 
a caucus of the Republican members of the legislature, called 
to consider the situation, and made use of mv knowledsre of 
the plans and purposes of the enemy in behalf of a measure 
which the Governor had suggested for organizing and arming 
the militia of the State, so that in case of riot or insurrec- 
tion, he would have the means with which to defend his 
own authority, and execute the laws. Two-thirds of the 
members of that caucus were personally known to me, and 
had been witnesses to my faithful services in behalf of the 
establishment of our free State government. Many of them 
were my warm, personal friends. They believed every- 
thing I said respecting the situation in Yazoo, and what was 

*It was at the time nii'lorstood that the author of the book lived in Hinds County, 
Mississippi, and was a well-known minister of the Gospel of the lowly Nazarene. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 457 

mide known as to other localities. Yet nearly every col- 
ored member, who spoke upon the subject, opposed arming 
the militia. The two principal reasons assigned b}^ them for 
opposition were: 

First. It would tend to arouse race antagonisms. 

Second. They had faith in General Grants and believed 
that he would come to their aid should they be attacked. 

Besides these, there were good, well-oieaaing colored 
members, who refused to believe that " ole marstah " would 
resort to violence to accomplish his political ends. There 
were a goodly number of old masters in the legislature, and 
they were all as gentle and harmless, outwardly, as cooing 
doves. It was not an unusual thing during that session to 
see these old masters and those good, trusting negroes, arm 
in arm, upon the public streets, exchanging courtesies in the 
committee rooms, at restaurants and at saloons, upan the 
most familiar terms. 

Perfect peace reigned throughout .Mississippi, and the 
warning voice of the governor, and others, found an echo 
only in the laughter, derision, or curses of the Bai'ksdales, 
the Georges, the Singletons, Lamars d als., who meekly, 
ever^'where and at all times, declared that they never would 
consent to obtain power through such means as they were 
most foully and wickedly charged with preparing to use. 
But no sooner had the legislature adjourned, than afl'airs 
took on a different aspect. The gentle, cooing Democratic 
doves ruitled their feathers and cawed like hungry cariron 
crows. 

The following from the Raymond Gazette, a paper pub- 
lished in the capital county and copied generally by the press 
of the State, is a fair specimen of their " racket :" 

''There are those who think thit the lea'lers of tlie radical party 
have carried this system of fraud and falsehood just far enough in 
Hinds County, and that the time has come when it should be stopped 
—peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary. And to this end it is 
proposed that wlienever a radical pow-wow is to be held, the nearest 
anti-radical club appoint a committee of ten discreet, intelligent, and 



458 YAZOO ; or, 

reputable citizens, fully identified witli the interests of the neighbor- 
hood, and well known as men of veracity, to attend as representa- 
tives of the tax-payers of the neighborhood and county, and true 
friends of the negroes assembled, and that whenever the radical 
speakers proceed to mislead the negroes, and open with falsehoods, 
and deceptions, and misrepresentations, the committee stop them 
right then and there, and compel them to tell the truth or quit the 
stand." 

The " good, trusting negroes," who had refused to believe 
that old masters could do such things, were the very first to 
cry for help against the general arming of the whites, which 
was being rapidly pushed. 

But the color-line movement made less rapid progress in 
Yazoo. At a numerously attended convention of the enemy 
the report of the committee on platform was amended by 
striking out the resolution favoring the Vicksburg ■' color 
line " policy. There was a bitter struggle, and the amend- 
ment was adopted by but one majority. Yet that majority 
was Mr. Fountain Barksdale, the same who had so gallantly 
fallen in line with "our nigros" and rescued my brother 
Charles on a certain occasion from a " murderer's cell " in 
that " common jail," and from that kuklux band. When I 
heard that, I was tempted to go straight to Mr. Barksdale, 
and resign my " dictatorship " in his favor. But, while 
that would have brought relief to me, and to my anxious 
wife, it would have been a betrayal of n\y party associates; 
desertion in the face of the enemj^ It sprang from grati- 
tude to him and my joy that, after all, my planting had taken 
deep root, and might continue to thrive even though I 
should be destroyed. It lasted for only a brief moment, 
and henceforward I saw only the martyr's crown. 

The changed manner of the enemy throughout the State 
so alarmed Kepublicans that a hasty consultation was held 
at the capital and a committee dispatched to visit the Presi- 
dent, lay all the facts before him, and learn what would be 
his course in the event of a general insurrection against the 
constituted authorities. Returning, this committee reported, 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 459 

and their words were passed from one to another of the 
local leaders, that the President had assured them of his full 
sympathy and had promised to protect our government and 
the right of Republicans to vote, to the utmost of his author- 
ity. But he had also said that the people of the North had 
grown tired of these appeals for help from the South. It 
would therefore be necessary that it should be clearly such a 
case as, under the Constitution, would justify his exercise 
■of the Federal power in our behalf. To make such a case 
it must be made clearly to appear that the enemy were 
actually using force, not merely threatening to do so, and, 
that, its application was so widespread and violent that the 
State authorities were powerless to control it. 

This report was perfectly satisfactory to '• we all " Repub- 
licans. There were few cowards in our ranks. Resting 
fiecure in " Grant's promise," for so the President's assurances 
were regarded, they prepared to meet the enemy, feeling, 
that should they be killed, their death would not have been 
in vain. 

In Yazoo, our party had never before been so united. 
The conduct of the irreconcilables after the death of Mr. 
Hilliard and especially that of those who had won victory 
at Yicksburg upon the color-line, had greatly alarmed the 
members of the A. M. E. Church, and they were now among 
my staunchest supporters. So far as I knew I was the 
unanimous choice of our party for re-election. 

No Republican meetings had yet been held in the county 
preparatory to the approaching election, when all the county 
officials, members of the legislature, a State treasurer and 
members of Congress were to be chosen. So, as prelimi- 
nary thereto a meeting of our county committee was called. 
At that meeting the preparations being made by the irre- 
-concilables for carrying the election by force, were freely 
commented on by all. 

The publication in the Banner of that production of Eddin 
and Sands, was viewed with some alarm. The Bmner had 



460 YAZOO ; OR, 

not been a sensational paper. No one present knew or had 
ever heard of either of the persons. All kaew that the 
statements about arms were false, and beheved it was a for- 
gery. 

A telegram had been already sent to the State authorities 
to that etiect, and the human hornet had called its author 
to " personal account " for his " presumption." 

All knew of the organization of white independent mili- 
tary companies, and of the very extensive arming that had 
been going on. Some had seen whole boxes of Winchester 
rifles and shot-guns, brought into the county for distribution 
to these companies. Mr. James M. Dickson and Mr. Hous- 
ton Burrus mentioned an etiort made by the human hornet, 
by tumbling before them as they walked down Main street 
a pile of dry-goods boxes, to compel them to quit the side- 
walk, and walk in the street, or fight. It was 1868 come 
again, but our party was stronger now than then. One of 
the members of that committee was an ex- confederate captain ; 
another, our Senator-, and the colored men upon it could 
read and write. All the important officers of the county 
were in the hands of our party. Ames was governor, G-rant 
was still President, and we had his promise. So these brave 
and loj'al committeemen unanimously agreed upon the fol- 
low^ing: 

''■ BesoUed, By the Republican Executive Committee of Yazoo 
County, this August 30, 1875, thit a delegate couveution he, and is 
hereby, called to assemble at Wilson's Hall, in Yazoo City, on Wed- 
nesday, vSeptember 22, 1875, and to tliat end it is hereby ordered that 
a convention be called in each of the several beats of the county on 
the days and places, to Avit." * * * 

There had never been in the county a more harmonious 
meeting, and the strongest feeling of fidelity to each other 
and of devotion to our cause prevailed throughout its ses- 
sion. The Yazoo City Eepublicau Club would hold a meet- 
ing at Wilson's Ilall on the night of September 1st, and I 
was requested to be present and make a speech indicative of 
the policy of the party in the forthcoming campaign. This 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 461 

I promised to do, and due annouiicenieut of the fact was 
made. 

Now let the reader turn back, agahi read the correspoii- 
denoe at the close of the preceding chapter, and, if he has 
not already done so, compare the spelling of such diffiouk 
words for beginners as " preparing " and " sure " and others 
all correctly spelled, with "u" for you, '^ newse " for news, 
"cum" for come, "liv" for live, and "thrue" for true. Also, 
note that the words " Yazoo City, July " are not only cor- 
rectly spelled, but also, that the punctuation and style of 
the whole, words, and figures following, is perfect. 

I made diligent inquiry for both Eddin and Sands, but 
could find no such persons. There were not only not six- 
teen hundred army guns in the entire county, there were 
not sixteen, in the possession of colored people. There were 
no armed military or other companies or organizations 
amongst them. The colored people of Yazoo were wholly 
without arms except now and then an old pistol or squir- 
rel-gun. 

Many good people at the North have blamed them for 
that, as though it was an evidence of their incapacity for 
self-government. These friends forget. They forget that 
when the war closed General Howard and other Federal 
officers having authority' in the South advised the freed peo- 
ple not to prrchase guns, because it might offend their old 
masters, and get them into all sorts of trouble; that every 
missionary sent among them advised the same course, and, 
that General Grant, and all of us did. These friends also 
further forget that every one giving such advice accom- 
panied it with an assurance that the Government at Wash- 
ington would protect themagainst violence from the rebels." 

Notwithstanding these facts have passed into history, and, 
notwithstanding the white people of Yazoo knew that the 
•colored people were wholly unarmed, the Democrat published 
that fraudulent communication and commented upon it as 
follows:* 

*I have lost or mislaid the comments of the Banner, whicli were ofsimihir purport. 



462 YAZOO; OR, 

" THE NEGROES ARMED— THEY EXPECT TO HAVE A EIGHT, AND ARE: 
PREPARED FOR IT— FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED^ 

" We clip the following article from the Winona Advance; it speaks- 
for itself. It has been our opinion all along that the negroes were 
all armed or arming. * * * We call upon the young men of this 
city to form a company* for the protection of their homes and fami- 
liesf. For we truly believe it must come sooner or later, and at the- 
first fire let these political leeches that pass as whites be the first ta 
fall. They urge on the negro, and they should suffer." 

Did the Democrat believe that " the negroes were all armed 
or arming ?" 

" No." 

•'How do I know ?" 

" Because if it were so the Democrat would have made the 
discovery in a dift'erent way, and from a different source than 
Alabama." 

Four-fifths of the colored population were living constantly,, 
day and night, under the eye of white employers, or white 
overseers. It would be impossible for them to have brought 
sixteen hundred, or even one hundred, army guns into the 
county without discovery. 

The Democrat knew that. 

The Herald, Democratic, published the same correspon- 
dence, six days after its appearance in the Banner, and after 
ample time had elapsed for its editor to have ascertained 
whether the statements made were true, and commented as 
follows : 

'' SIXTEEN HUNDRED ARMY GUNS— THE NEGROES OF YAZOO 'PRE- 
PARING FOR THE ELECTION AND ALSO FOR RIOTS '—THE ' COL- 
ORED PEOPLE OF STARTTIA ' PREPARING TO TAKE THE WAR-PATH 
— READ I READ ! READ ! 

"The letter published below was sent to a friend of ours by a promi- 
nent lawyer and mostworthy citizen of Demopolis, Ala., who vouches 
for the genuineness of the document. One would infer by reading it 
that the colored voters of Yazoo are ' preparing for the election very 
fast and also for riots;' and further that the-y are ' buying ammu- 
nition in Yazoo City,' 'have 1,600 army guns,' and are 'prepared 
for business.' The purchasing of army guns and ammunition and 

*That company had already been formed. 
fXhis mciiut only their white families, of conrse. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FKEEDOM. 463 

preparing for riots is a lovely way, indeed, to get ready for elections. 
Bnt as the dapper little son-in-law of the national spoon-tliief, Ben 
Butler, religiously believes that the death of twenty-five negroes is 
really necessary to the success of the radical party in the present 
canvass, perhaps it is his eiuissiries vvlio are putting mischief in the 
heads of these black people, in the hope that radicalism would in the 
end be benefitted thereby. The original of tlie letter published below 
is in our possession, also the letter of the gentleman into whose 
hands it fell, and who promptly forwarded it to Colonel Money,* of 
the Winona Advance.''^ 

Shortly afterward, a colored mati was found living on the 
human hornet's plantation who was said to have confessed 
that he wrote that letter. But as he could hardly write, 
and could scarcely spell at all, no one believed him. 

But I am content to let the sequel show the object of that 
production. I well knew the place where the irreconcilables 
met in " consultation." It was there a well-known leading 
church member, chairman of the white man's committee, 
made his memorable declaration : " The only way to get 
rid of Morgan is to kill him. We've tried coaxing and 
bribery. We've tried to drive him. Meanwhile his hold 
is growing stronger and stronger. He must be killed." 

I had lately several times seen the human hornet coming 
from there, and once, just before the day of our meeting, we 
met and passed each other on the street. His face was so 
white and pale, his lips so clinched and livid, his gait so 
nervous and meteoric that I shall never forget the shook 
he gave me, nor the sulphuric odor in his trail. From that 
moment I believed that he had been chosen to kill me when 
the opportunity should arrive, and I also believed that the 
fraudulent correspondence was intended as a cover for the 
crime. It had already been published throughout the State 
and telegraphed North. On the day of the meeting, the 
pastor of the A. M. E. Church, of the church on the hill we 
helped to build, and other leading colored men, came to me 
with further evidence of the purpose of the enemy to attack our 
meeting that night, and many craved my consent for the 

*A Democratic cnudidate for Congress. 



464 YAZOO; or, 

Republicans to go armed. This I not only refused to give, 
but forbade them to do so, and I expressly advised them to 
carry their Bibles instead. 

They saw as clearly as I that the slorm was at hand, but 
they could not know as I did its extent and power. It was 
my duty to shield them and preserve the peace. At the 
same time, as a citizen and a candidate for re-election, it 
was my duty to attend the meeting and to make the speech. 

" Why not postpone it?" 

" Because that would have been a surrender, and would 
liave encouraged the enemy to further aggressions. Besides, 
we had promise of aid from the Executive of the nation, upon 
the express condition that we went forward with our can- 
vass, and were attacked with such violence as the State 
government would be powerless to suppress or control." 

Similar meetings would be held in other parts ot' the 
State, about the same time. Oar only escape from the 
issue was in a cowardly surrender. 

" We all" Republicans in Yazoo would die if necessary for 
■€ur cause. 

Would the enemy attack us ? 

I believed they would, in some manner, that night. But 
we had often before passed through similar trials by the 
exercise of patience, forbearance, and self-control, I believed 
I should be able to exercise those virtues on this occasion as 
fully as I had done so many times before. But would all 
the others ? I had urged them to do so, as the only means 
of escape from actual violence. There had been many 
tests of their ability to do so. I believed that they would. 
There was some consolation for me in the fact that my wife 
and children were absent at our summer home at Holly 
Springs,* and knew nothing of my peril. 

On my way to the meeting the human hornet crossed my 
path, and there was the same sulphuric odor in his trail that 
I had the last time before observed. The hall was lighted 

*This was a frequent resort for persons unable to go any farther North, and w o 
wished to escape the summer epidemic of the swamps. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 465 

by small tallow dips. Except upoo the speaker's platform, 
where there was a lamp and several candles, the light was 
•dim. 

There were present our Senator, the ex-confederate captain, 
and several more "native white Republicans," perhaps a hun- 
•dred colored men, the mass of whom were in the raised seats 
in front of the platform, and one of my deputies, an ex-con- 
federate officer. 

I had just commenced my speech when there filed into 
the hall, in regular order, as if by preconcert and arrange- 
ment, some seven or eight of the most substantial white men 
of the town, and took their seats all together immediately 
in front of me. 

This recalled to my mind the recommendation of the 
Raymond Qazette, for a " committee of ten discreet, intelli- 
gent and reputable citizens " and so forth. Following this 
^' committee " came the human hornet, Fritz Haider and 
others of the violent class, who lounged about inside the door- 
way. Almost from the first the former begun interrupting 
me, and sometimes to dispute my statements. This was 
ipolitely objected to by some one in the audience. But I 
■suggested that they be allowed to ask questions, and I prom- 
ised to try and answer. At this point the human hornet 
withdrew, and almost immediately returned, bringing with 
him a reckless, worthless colored man, whose property had 
'been levied ou by the delinquent tax collector,* for unpaid 
taxes. 

This ^colored man found his way to near the middle of 
the audience, and then began a bitter denunciation of me. 
He was requested to sit down, whereupon the human hornet 
rushed to his side, and while in the attitude of drawing his 
pistol, proclaimed the right of the fellovv to go on, and his 
purpose to protect him in it. Even this did not disturb the 
Republicans in the audience, all of whom preserved a calm 
and orderly exterior, however great their indignation, and 
I felt so confident of their ability to maintain this attitude, 

* 11. B. Mitchell, the ex-coiifederate captain, then present in the hall. 



466 YAZOO; or^ 

that I was eocourag^ed by it to persevere ia the policy of sub- 
mission to the insults and wrongs of the enemy, as Charles- 
and the General had so successfully done in 1867 and 186Sy 
particularly in their Sabbath-school. 

I felt sure that it was all done to provoke some of us to 
resistance, when, as during the reign of the kuklux, thej 
would seize upon it as a sufficient pretext for any violence 
they might choose to inflict. Therefore I proceeded in what 
I had to say with great caution. As a careful surgeon seek- 
ing among the vital organs of the human frame for some 
murderous bullet will exercise his greatest skill and caution 
to not cut them, and will take care lest he cause needless 
pain, 1 endeavored with all the skill and tenderness of which 
I was capable, t3 get hold of the heart-strings of the enemy 
without shocking them, and thus find my way to their intel- 
lects. But, as one walking from shore to shore upon a rope 
spanning Niagara's chasm must realize how slender indeed is- 
the line between him and the river of death below, I could 
not help feeling that all our planting on that old stubble- 
ground hung, as my life did, by a single thread, and so 
whenever there was an interruption, or the enemy appeared 
ruifiod, I would cease speaking until the surface at leaU was 
calmed. Thus I hoped to pass safely through. But should 
I reach tlie other shore ? 

The result showed that I had miscalculated the extent of 
the enemy's trust in their majority in the House of Repre- 
sentatives at Washington. 

I had not believed that they would dare to kill unless 
some sort cf violent resistance to their methods was ottered 
by some one. There was the weak point in my armor, and 
it was at that point they surprised me. For after the battle 
of nerve had proceeded for perhaps half an hour, certain of 
the " committee " appeared to get restless, the hornet became 
exasperated, and up )n my mentioning the name of the chair- 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 467 

man of our board of supervisors,* he exclaimed in accents 
of fire: " He's a thief ! he's a thief!"' 

Some person sitting at the right of the platform, and full 
twenty-five feet from the hornet, replied, "Oh! no! no!"t 
rapidly. 

Instantly the hornet, with the rapidity of a meteor, 
and with pistol in hand rushed toward the person. Then 
there was a shot, and then a volley, all within an in- 
stant of time. The lights on that side the hall went outj 
those upon the platform burned brightly. 

There are those who refuse to believe in special provi- 
dences. 

AYhat was this ? 

At that moment, as from the first, I believed that I stood 
for the best thought, the highest purpose and the noblest 
impulses of American freemen. I also believed that " com- 
mittee,'' as a whole, together with the hornet, and the 
sleuth-hounds in attendance, at the same time stood as from 
the first they, too, had done, the loyal representatives of the 
same thought, purpose, and impulse, that had made an armed 
camp of the South in defense of secession, slavery, and mis- 
cegenation, and, when the former was overthrown and the 
camps disbanded, had pursued their main object, first in the 
guise of kuklux, later in disguise as National Republicans, 
and now, again, because Ohio and Massachusetts had gone 
Democratic, and they held the purse-strings at Washington, 
were once more openly in arms in defense of that object. | 

I did not run. On the contrary, observing the violent 
movement of the hornet, I turned toward him and com- 
manded peace. At that instant the first shot was fired, and 
before I could take two steps toward them, the volley. I 
stood, fronting them, in the full glare of the lights upon the 

*This man was the most popular Republican with the enemy there was in the 
county. 

jAfierwards the enemy said that the words were " it's a lie." 

JThe spokesman, or leading member of that " committee," was the very person who 
ruined poor Susie Poinde.xter, and who afterward boasted of his skill in capturing 
" Morgan's black pets." 



468 TAZOO ; OB, 

platform, when that volley was fired, and the hornet and his 
aids were not more than twenty feet distant. 

That volley was fired directly at me, and each bullet was 
.■aimed to kill. 

What was it ? 

The end piece of the little plain, pine board table,* at 
which I was standing when the first shot was fired, after- 
ward contained three bullet holes. The window facing and 
wall at the back of the platform was " literally peppered " 
with bullet marks. The day following, when asked by his 
admiring associates, " why in h — 1 he allowed Morgan to 
■escape," the hornet, puzzled and confused by his failure to 
kill me, declared: 

"I stood just so " — describing his position at the front and 
Tight of the platform, which put him directly in my front as 
I turned and commanded the peace, and was not twenty feet 
distant from me — " and emptied every barrel of my two 
navies at the " 

He stood in the dim light, while I stood upon the plat- 
form in the bright light. 

What was it ? 

Eight days afterward the B inner, commenting on the 
situation in Yazoo, and upon my supposed whereabouts, said: 

" He abruptly disappeared from public life on Wednesday night, 
September 1, while delivering a peace-lecture on the color-line, and 
as has been discovered, he took refuge in the negro church at the 
ifoot of the hill until last Friday morning, when he hastened to Cas- 
sias Ames, to whom he cries to help him ere he sinks. Cassias can't 
•do much for him, and he is sinking pretty rapidly himself. ' 

From Yazoo B inner, September 2, 1S75 : 

■''A RIOT IN YAZOO CITY— THE NATURAL RESULT OF RADICAL 

TEACHIIsG. 

******* 

"Many shots were fired, perhaps more than forty. 
" When the smoke of battle cleared off, tliere laid on the floor Dick 
Mitchell, who died in a few hours, and W, H. Foote, the circuit 

♦This endjpiece was about eight inches wide and three feet in length. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 469"^ 

clerk, supposed to be badly shot. AYe regret the death of Dick Mit- 
chell. He was a brave man, but forfeited his life by joining Morgan 
and our enemies, and drawing his sword in their defense. 

''The shooting ended at Wilson's Hall; the Are bells were rung 
and the city picketed. At 11 P. M. all was quiet. Morgan and Ever- 
ett left the city. 

" The citizens met to-day (Thursday) with Colonel Garnett Andrews- 
commanding— with a full staff —and two full companies are organized, 
which will keep the peace of the city. All business is suspended. 

"later. 

" 11 O'CLOCK, A. M.— Taylor's cavalry, one hundred strong, reached 
the city about 10 o'clock. Other companies are reported on the road. 
Stay at home, gentlemen , we have two full companies organized here, 
well ofScered and equipped, and will hold in check all enemies, for- 
eign or domestic. 

" All is quiet now." 

" FROM YAZOO COUNTY— STILL PREPARED- FOR EMERGEJTCIBS— THE 
RADICAL LEADERS NON EST— MORE TROUBLE ANTICIPATED. 

'■^Special to the Vickshurg Herald, September 4: 

" Yazoo City, Sept. 3, 1873. 
" The city keeps up its warlike appearance. Taylor's scouts were 
out through the coimty yesterday, and report things quiet. Dr. B. 
K. Holmes brought in a company of men last night and reported ready 
for duty. There is hardly a negro to be Jseen on the streets The 
two Morgans and Everett, and all the white negro leaders have not 
been seen. The only hope is that they have left the county for the 
county's good. It has been reported that negro meetings were held 
in different portions of the county last night. Trouble is looked for, 
but we are ready to meet it. Morgan's hiding place remains un- 
known. No business doing. C. Knarf." 

From the Yazoo City Dem.ocraf, September 7, 1875: 

" On last Wednesday, September 1, it was freely circulated on the 
streets that A. T. Morgan would make a speech that night having 
for his subject the '• Color-Line." From what we learned, every one 
of both parties was invited to attend. 

" As the shades of night set in, beatiug of drums was heard for the 
purpose of rallying negroes to hear the speech of their lord and mas- 
ter, A. T. Morgan. The croAvd gathered at Wilson's Hall and the 
speech began. The crowd was largely negro, with some ten or 
fifteen of our leading and most law-abiding citizens. At the begin- 
ning of Morgan's address he invi'ed all present who disbelieved any 
thing he might say, to rise and answer him. During his speech, a 
negro by the name of Robinson, a Democrat, rose, to answer Morgtui 



470 YAZOO ; OR, 

when the negroes began to yell, ' pvit him out ! put him out! he is a 
Democrat ! ' Two or three gentlemen present then rose and said 
Hobinson shall speak, and we dare anybody to try to put him out. 
There was some excitement over it, and pistols were drawn, but 
finally things were quieted. Morgan then resumed his speech, and 
spoke in loud praise of the board of supervisors, when one of the 
gentlemen present answered that the board was no account, or 
something to that effect. Morgan then said, ' Why, there is Captain 
Bedwell (one of the board), you can have no objection to him.' Mr. 
Dixon then replied, ' Bedwell is a thief.' When a negro said 'That's 
a lie. ' Mr. Dixon then stepped forward and said, ' Show me the 
man that said that,' and continued walking towards the place the 
voice came from. When he neared the spot a negro, Jim Clark, drew 
his pistol and fired, the ball striking the floor. A general firing then 
began, which resulted in the shooting of R. B. Mitchell, a white 
Republican, who died at 3 o'clock that morning, and the shooting of W. 
H. Foote, the negro circuit clerk, who is still suffering from the wound. 
The firing caused some few to turn pale, and the rapid motion of 
many legs. The negroes were pani >stricken, some few going 
down the steps head first, while the greater portion, with the Mor- 
gan Bros, to set the example, went out of the windows." 

From Yazoo City Herald (Democratic), September 10, 
1875: 

" WHAT IMPUDENCE. 

"Our dapper little G-overnor Ames comes to the front with a proc- 
lamation ordering thedisbandment of all the military companies no v 
organized in the State. If he has brains enough to know his right 
hand from his left, he ought to know that no more attention will be 
paid to his proclamation than the moon is popularly supposed to pay 
to the baying of a sheep-killing dog." 

From same : 

" DISBAND. 

"Ames emerged from his hole the other day and staid out long 
enough to say to the companies in Yazoo and other counties, ' dis- 
band.' But at the present writing they are not disbanding worth a 
cent nor do they have any idea of doing such a thing," 



ON THE PICKET LINE OE FREEDOM. 471 



CHAPTER LXIX. 

.AFTER THE BATTLE — WEARY WAITING — MY NEW STRONGHOLD — 

WHAT WAS IT LET FRED ANSWER — GRANT'S UNFULFILLED 

" promise" — MORE " SUPERIAH STRATEGY" A REWARD FOR 
MORGAN, DEAD OR ALIVE — THE ENEMY IN POSSESSION — FAITH- 
FUL FRIENDS — A RIDE FOR LIFE — " PROFOUND PEACE" IN MIS- 
SISSIPPI — WHERE THOSE " SIXTEEN HUNDRED ARxMY GUNS " 
WERE — WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN — A BLOODY GROUND — THE 
PART ALABAMA TOOK IN IT — THE PART SENATORS GEORGE AND 
■ LAMAR AND MR. BARKSDALE TOOK IN IT — MISSISSIPPI CAM- 
PAIGN LIES EQUALLED ONLY BY CAMPAIGN MURDERS — A DEMI- 
GOD — THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVF. 

DID I shoot ? Yes, twice; but while standing thus in the 
bright light upon the platform the light in which the 
hornet and his party were went out. 

It was said that the enemy put out the lights. 1 am in- 
clined to think, however, that the dim light of the few tal- 
low dips upon that side of the hall wasobscui-ed by the dense 
smoke from the rapid discharge of the enemy's pistols. At 
all events, it became so dark there that I could see no one. 
Then it was that I got out of range of their pistols by way 
of the window at the back of the platform, to a ladder 
which reached from it over a narrow court to the roof of 
the hotel adjoining. This ladder gave way under me and I 



472 YAZOO ;. or, 

fell to the pavement J full twelve feet below, . Shocked and! 
dazed for a m.oment, I quickly recovered and climbed back 
into the hall. While doing so I heard the market-house 
bell striking. It was unlike the tire signal^ or anj other 
that I had ever heard upon it. 

The hall was not yet entirely empty. Men were still 
hurrying from it by the rear stair-way, and Mr. Mitchell lay 
at full length upon the floor. I spoke to Dick (every one 
called him Dick), and it would seem that he recognized my 
voice, for he raised his eyes to mine. 

it was a murderous bullet. Entering the neck from the 
rear, it ranged downward, touching the spine in its course.. 
The pistol from which it was tired had been, placed so close 
to the neck, that the flame from the powder ignited his coat- 
collar, and powder was burned into the skin. 

It was said that at the moment the hornet started toward 
the man who had presumed to question his charge against 
Mr. Bedwell, Dick and Fritz Haider were seated together 
upon a dry-goods box. Afterward, as many still remember,. 
Haider went from store front to store front along Main street, 
boasting, '' I killed Dick Mitchell,. I killed Dick Mitchell." 

Mr. Foote was badly wounded in the side, but Lad made 
his escape. There were others wounded,, but Dick was the 
only one killed. Our Senator and all the other white Re- 
publicans had left the hall. My deputy, Mr. Redding, 
remained in care of Dick. He at once informed me tliat the 
hornet and his party left the hall by the front way so soon 
as I escaped through the window. I had not been two 
minutes here when- some colored men, who were searching 
for me, came and informed me that the main street was full 
of armed white men, and that they were searching for me. 
On the street at the rear of the hall were quite a large num- 
ber of my colored friends who remained, to " die by you. 
Colonel." They were not armed; some few may have had 
pistols. But what could we do against that mob of whites,, 
some of whom I could see, with guns in, their hands, hurry- 
iwi, toward the market-house. 



ON THE riCKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 4731 

These friends of mine did not fail to comprehend the mean- 
ing of it all. They meant what they said. They would have- 
followed me in an effort to arrest the hornet and his aids, 
but that I would not attempt to do. 

Finding my way home, I had not been there five minutes 
when the house was thronged ^vrith colored friends, some of 
whom had stood by our little garrison in its darkest hours, 
and among them the pa^stor of that other church. All were 
anxious that I should make a stand and light the mob. But 
to their pra^^ers and entreaties I held firmly to my resolve,, 
and advised them all to go home, gO' to bed, advise every col- 
ored man they could see or could get word to, to do the 
same, and, upon no pretext whatever to come to town. 

" What yo' goin' to do, sheriff?" 

" Stay right here in my own house." 

" Dey'U be y'here and kill yo' sure." 

" Xever mind me, you all go home, as I tell you." 

" Never 'low to leave the Colonel that way — never! Die- 
first!" 

Then I reasoned with them, pointed out to them the folly 
of fighting those well-armed companies, and reminded them 
that every one of oar white friends had vanished. After 
reason and persuasion failed, I commanded them. Then 
they departed; some cursing, some crying. The last one had 
but just disappaared through th3 back yard, when tramp 
tramp, tramp, sounded the tread of the hornet's company, 
upon the pavement, approaching my house. This was my 
castle. Fortunately, only a few days before, I had purchased 
a fresh supply of ca^tridg^^s for my Spencer rifie, and with 
this, and other weapons ready to hand (the very same we had 
armed our ancient stronghold with), I would be able to make 
at least a show of resistance. Now they were upon the gal- 
lery and banging against the door. My hostler, Fre;.lerick 
Harris, opened it and they entered. 

" Whar's Colonel Mawgin ?" 

" Doa'n know, Mar's Dixon, 'deed I don't, Kunnel hav'n 
bin y'here senz de mcetin' I 'low." 



474 YAZOO ; OR, 

Evidently thoy believed him, for, after spying about upon 
the firrjt floor a moment, they went away regularly as they 
came, tramp, tramp, tramp, keeping step for all the world 
just like a company of trained soldiers. 

What was it ? 

Let Fred answei. 

Scarcely had they departed when I heard his soft step 
upon the narrow stairway leading to my stronghold. In an 
instant his black face appeared, his eyes shining through 
his grateful tears like two stars, and his words, just above a 
whisper, low and solemn: 

'^ Praise de Lord, Kunnel! praise de Lord! I jes prayed 
an' prayed, an' He answered my prar, an' corned an' stooi^l 
'afo" me dar, an' put de words in my mouth, and done sont 
Dixon away." 

But all night long I heard every little while the tramp of 
squads of men marching. 

The next day, looking out from the window of my strong- 
hold, I could see them. They were as well armed, and 
under as perfect discipline, apparently, as any troops of our 
late armies were. Including the cavalry company from the 
country, there were not less than three hundred armed white 
men in the town. Their weapons were Winchester rifles, 
needle-guns, double barrelled shot-guns and pistols. 

There were no arniod colored men anyvvhere that I could 
see, or hear of, and scarcely any at all to be seen upon the 
streets. This was a great relief to m.3, for it showed their 
faith in me, and took away the only pretext there was for the 
presence of armed whites, whose numbers, nevertheless, were 
constantly increasing. The enemy promptly caused a warrant 
to be issued, charging me with attempting to murder Dixon, 
placed it in the hands of the hornet and his aids, oflered a 
large reward for me, dead or alive, visited the capital of the 
State, Holly Springs, and other points where I possibly might 
be found, in search of me, marched to the court-house and took 
possession of it and of my ofRje — upon the ground that the 
■^herifl:' was a fugitive from justice — assembled the board 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 475 

of aldermen of the town and caused an appropriation of a 
thousand dollars to be made for pay of the soldiers, estab- 
lished a cordon of pickets around the town, with instructions 
to allow no colored man without a pass to enter or depart 
from it, and by such, and various and sundry other means, 
usurped full and complete authority. Still '' our ni.ij^ros" 
refused to " rise." 

The details of this insurrection would, doubtless, make 
'^' miglity interesting reading " for the general pubHc, They 
would fill a volume. I have not space for them. 

Trusting in the President's "promise," I had remained in 
the town because, when the United States troops should 
come, it would be essential to the success of their mission 
that some semblance of lawful government remained. I 
believed that the presence of no more than two United States 
soldiers, with authority from the President to act for the 
preservation of peace, and for the protection of the lawful 
government, would be sufficient to cause the enemy to dis- 
perse to their hiding places, when I could once more resume 
the functions and duties of my office, Republicans might 
once more return to their homes, and we could proceed with 
our canvass. Once it was rumored about that the troops were 
■coming. The effect of this rumor was enough to induce the 
hornet and his company to qui't the court- house, and aban- 
don my office; but it was a false report. Immediately 
atterward the town resumed its " war-like appearance," and 
the enemy's methods were resumed with renewed vigor. 

From my hiding place I could see the rows of bright, 
shining army-guns near the market-house, stacked, and 
with sentries on guard over them, precisely as I have so 
often seen them in our old army camps, and on our marches 
against the rebels, in those other war days. 

I could also see armed bodies of mounted men riding out 
on their " scouting " expeditions to the country for the pur- 
pose of suppressing " nigro risings " that were " about to 
occur." These parties usually went " armed to the teeth,'? 
and carrying ropes at their saddles. 



476 YAZOO; or, 

During all these long and weary da^^s of waiting and 
watching, my friends in the town remained true to me. 
Some were in the ranks of the enemy, and rode with the 
hornet on his raids. Tliey knew my hiding place, and, 
whenever the enemy came too near, drew them upon some 
other trail. But this could not always last. 

On the eleventh day, the leaders of the enemy became 
convinced that I was still in the town, and arrangements 
were making for a final search. This time they would invade 
my stronghold. They had kept a vigilant watch upon it for 
several days, and the four corners of that square were guarded 
with extra pickets; but my friends were keen and watchful. 
That night just before the hour for posting the pickets, I 
was to endeavor to escape from town. The plan was for 
Fred to have my sorrel mare saddled and ready with the 
stable door open, and nothing left for me to do but mount 
and ride away. Friends were stationed on each corner 
between my stronghold and the stable, with pre-arranged 
signals in case of detection or immediate danger. 

So, disguised in some old clothes, at that hour when the- 
shadows of our long Yazoo twilight cover the old town with 
a mask, I walked from my brother's house full two squares 
to the stable, found faithful sorrel, just as faithful Fred had 
promised she should be, mounted her and rode away. Peo- 
ple whom I knew were passing to and fro. But none knew 
me, until just as I began the ascent by the plank road of the 
long hill back of the town, just opposite the little church we 
helped to build, ,vhere a sentry with musket at a "right shoulder 
shift," one of the enemy, startled perhaps by my mare out of 
his listless, drowsy gait, recognized me. 

What was it ? 

As though he had received a direct revelation, this '' white," 
armed with a "Winchester rifle, turned on his heel and ran 
away as rapidly as his legs could carry him towards head- 
quarters, the market-house. 

Now I was free, for sorrel was a fleet-footed beast. 

Nine miles out I passed some friends, colored people, who- 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 477 

were having a prayer-meeting at the church near by. They 
warned me that Beutonia was guarded in the same wav as 
Yazoo City, by a white company, and one of their number 
volunteered to guide me by a circuitous route, through the 
:fields, to a point beyond the town, thu3 enabling me to 
•escape that danger.* Before 10 A. M.,the next day, I was 
at the capital. Here I found our Senator, and also found 
refugees from all parts of the State. The State was one 
vast camp of armed white leaguers. In Hinds Countyt as 
many as one hundred Republicans, it was said, had been 
killed. The Governor's office was thronged with men who 
had come to him for help. Yet only the day before General 
J. Z. George, then chairman of the State Democratic Execu- 
tive Committee, now a United States Senator, sent the fol- 
lowing message. I give it with editorial comments, just as 
it appeared in the Vicksburg Herald. 
From Vicksljurg Herald, September : 

" STRIKE, BUT HEAR ! 

'Referringtotbelyingdispatchwhich Ames, the murderer, t induced 

Harney, the negro sheriff of Hinds County, to send to Wasliington, 

■General J. Z. George, the chairman of the executive committee of 

tlie Democratic party of Mississippi, dispatched the following: 

"Jackson, Miss, &?)<. 11. 

■" To Hon. Edward Pierrepont, Attorney General United States America, 

' Was^hiricjton, D. C: 

* * * * * 

" The people of Mississippi claim the right of American citizens to 
Tie heard before they are condemned. I reassert that perfect peace 
prevails throughout the State, and that there is no danger of disturb- 
ance unless invited by the State authorities, which I hope they will 
not do. " J. Z. George, 

" Chairinan Bern. Stcttc Ex. Com.'" 
From Yazoo City Democi-at, September 14, 1875: 

"Let unanimity of sentiment pervade the minds of men. Let 
invincible determination be depicted on every countenance. Send 
Tforth from our deliberate assembly of the ISth, the soul-stirring an- 

*I afterward learned that I had not been gone from that " nigro church" twenty 
minutes when a body of mounted cavalry from Bentonia rode up and inquired for me. 
tThc capital county. 
.1 Meaning Governor Ames. 



478 YAZOO ; OR, 

nouncement that Mississippians shall rule Mississippi, though the- 
heavens fall. Then will woe, irretrievable woe, betide the radical 
tatterdemalions. Hit them hip and thigh, everywhere and at all 
times. Carry the election peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must.'" 

From same: 

"God speed the day when Mississippians shall rule Mississippi, 
and the Alonzo Phelps and Murrels of radicalism shall find their 
fate in a ' stout rope ' and a short shrift. Then will ' peace reign in 
Warsaw. ' 

"■ The time for begging colored men to vote with us has passed. 

" A. T. Morgan has turned up in Jackson. The Pilot says he slip- 
ped out at night, and we think it was a d— d good thing for Morgan." 

From Yazoo City Banner, September 16, 1875: 

'^ Morgan, the murderer, by the aid of some of his white radicals 
here, skipped out of town last Monday night. 

" "Y oung man, your actions of last Monday night was noticed. Bet- 
ter keep your optics well open. A word to the wise, etc., etc.'** 

From same, September 23, 1875: 

" Creswell, of I'iney, was in town again on last Tuesday, but has 
failed to join our club. Our correspondent ' M. ' has one eye on him.t 

'• Morgan, the murderer; Bedwell, the little man in search of 
health; Everett, the man who it is supposed shot twice in Wilson's 
Hall, are all yet— to use the Democrat's phrase— still 'rusticating.' 

" We see by the last Democrat, a journal published in Yazoo City, 
that a colored gentleman of African ways and means was found hung: 
some three miles below here. Hunfj by Ids own color, "'tis sa«Z. " 

From same: 

" LATEST KEWS. 

" Buck political negroes gone off with Morgan— wenches wedded tO' 
carpet-baggers, and can't workout— young negroes ain't worth a d— u. 
Xo cotton pickers to be found for the big crop. Ain't we in a hell of 
a fix?" 

Special to Vicksburg Herald: 

" Jackson, September 25. 
" The following message was this day telegraphed to Attorney Gen- 
eral Pierrepont: 

* This was meant for Charles Fawn, a "Yankee," who was killed a few days later- 
He assisted me to escape. 
fCreswell wasa Southern Republican who would not join the Democratic " Jluli." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 479" 

" Headquarters Executive Committe of 
"Democratic Party of Mississippi, 
" Jackson, Sept. 25, 1875. 
" To Attorney General Pierrcpont, Washington, D. C: 

* * * * * 

" The undersigned members of the Democratic State Convention, 
assembled here to-day, from every part of the State, take pleasure ia 
assuring you that everywhere throughout the State, the most pro-^ 
found peace and good order prevails. 

(Signed) James Z. George, CIminnany 

H. H. Chalmers. 

Edward C. Walthall. 

Jxo. A. P. Campbell. 

Thomas B. Sykes. 

Jno. a. Binford. 

Upton M. Young. 

J. B. Chrisman. 

H. M. Street." 

is'ot only was Mississippi one vast armed camp of white- 
leaguers, all the surrounding States were ready to '* send 
their aid " to their brethren in Mississippi. On this subject 
the Mobile Register said: 

" If the tocsin of war is sounded by Ames he will find men, money 
and arms trooping across our border to defend our kinsmen and our 
trade. This is no vain and idle threat. The moment Ames organizes 
his militia let the Democratic and Conservative young men organize 
bands of minute*meu in every county.* Let them stand by their 
arms.'" 

The Governor's intention to send two companies of militia 
into Yazoo was abandoned because of the greatly superior 
force of the enemy, some idea of which will be gahied from. 
the following: 

From the Yazoo City Democrat, October 0, 1875: 

" a SPECK of war— prompt ACTION OF OUR PEOPLE. 

'' Last Monday evening the startling announcement flashed over 
the wires to this place from Jackson that A. T. Morgan would leave 
that city by special train for Vaughn's Station, with a white and 
negro militia company, for the purpose of invading Yazoo County 
and reinstating himself as sheriff. 

*Tliese " Vjands " were alrcndy organized, already standing by their arms, and ready,. 
aU along the Alaliama border, to " move at the click of the wire." Some could not be- 
restrained, and actually marched into Mississippi. 



480 YAZOO ; OR, 

" A county meeting was immediately called to take such steps as 
were necessary to meet the emergency. The meeting was held at 
eight o'clock Tuesday morning in the spacious cotton-shed at the 
landing. Of its proceedings it is unnecessary to spealc. The deter- 
mination depicted upon every countenance showed, conclusively, the 
one sentiment of our people. 

"At 11 o'clock on that day a company of thirty-five men left our 
city, commanded by the intrepid Captain Henry M. Dixon. (The 
company was greatly augmented after it left.) 

" This company was joined at Benton by Captain H. L. Taylor and 
his gallant boys; Dr. B. R. Holmes' Dover and neighborhood com- 
pany; Captain Jessie E. Bell's Sartartia company, commanded by 
•Captain Johnson; Captain Samuel Griffin's Piney and Tcheva Creek 
company; Captains Smith's and Stubblefield's Benton companies, 
«.nd Captain Mitchell's Deasonville— as brave a regiment as ever met 
an enemy — all under the command of that gallant and experienced 
•soldier. Captain H. L. Taylor. 

*'The companies were distributed as follows: Captain Dixon's 
•command, then numbering 50, was ordered immediately to Vaughn's 
Station as an advance guard, and reached their destination about twi- 
light. They were reinforced early on Wednesilay morning by Dr. 
Holmes' company, fifty men. 

"Captain Mitchell's company was stationed at Deasonville, 

'■'• The balance of the commandhahed at Benton, the whole number- 
ing between eiglit and nine hundred men, all mounted and variously 
armed. 

"Headquarters were established at Deasonville, with couriers at 
iproper stations. 

'^Drs. J. P. McCormick and J. D. Burch, surgeon of this city, 
were at the station with Captain Dixon's company, Dr. R, C. Hen- 
derson at Deasonville, and Dr. W. C. Smitli at Benton. 

"Never was a command more properly distributed, under better 
control, and more eager for the fray, than these brave and gallant 
men last Tuesday night and Wednesday. And we venture the opin- 
ion that had Morgan aixl his invaders attempted a landing in our 
countvy, Vaughn's Station would have been known in the future 
annals of Mississippi as the Bloody Ground. 

"The command remained until it was ascertained that the county 
would not be invaded, when they quietly returned to their homes. 

"All honor is due to Commodore Birmingham and Captain Mit- 
chell, of the station, who threw open their houses and stables, and 
fed both man and beast, for which they would not receive a dime. 

" In the meantime the people of Yazoo City were not idle. On 
Tuesday four companies were organized and commanded by Colonel 
Andrews, Captain C, V. Gwin, Captain E. Scharfer, and Captain 
"Owen Brown, with Colonel W. H. Luse as battalion commander." 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 481 

Two of every four of the officers of those companies, in- 
cluding the regimental " field and stafi'," were practical 
miscegenationists, polygamous, unrepentant rebels. The 
same is true of one-half of the rank and file. They were 
in armed rebellion against the State government. Their 
brethren in Alabama, represented by the Mobile Register^ 
were not only standing by their arms, ready to move at the 
click of the wire, but had chartered trains to convey them to 
the " scene of conflict." 

Others like them and like those in Yazoo were ready in 
Warren, Madison, Hinds, Holmes, and other counties to do 
the same thing. In the face of this array the Governor's two 
companies of militia, one " white," the other " black," could 
not contend. It was certainly not the fault of the colored 
company that they did not try. 

My old friend, Charles Caldwell, was its captain. They 
were at all times ready to go. 

Up to the day I left the county there had been but one 
person killed, so far as I could learn. 

The colored people had remained perfectly passive, and 
the independent armed companies had all their own way. 

What follows relating to the doings of the enemy in Yazoo, 
I shall have to state upon hearsay. I shall, however, set 
down nothing but that which came to me from perfectly 
reliable fiiends, from official sources, and through the press. 

Shortly after I left, as I have described, it would seem 
that the colored men became somewhat restless. It was 
reported that some were lying in wait below the town to 
shoot the hornet. The following day " Captain " Taylor's 
company of cavalry rode through that neighborhood. Next 
day the body of a Republican was found hanging to a tree. 
Here is the way the Democrat noticed it : 

" A colored man, named Horace Hammond, was found hung some 
tliree miles below here on Thursday. Whether he committed suicide 
or not is a mooted q'lestion, but the following verdict of the coroner's 
jury settles the business^ 

3lY 



482 YAZOO -y OR, 

" We, the jury, find that Horace Hammond came to his death by 
hanging by parties unknown. 

W. A. SiiERARD, Foreman, 
MiCAJAH Fakker, 
Elisha Parker, 
George Moore, 
William &hortridge, 
Henry Weathers, Jurors.'''' 

Such scenes soon became of frequent occurrence, until 
leading Republicans had been killed in every supervisor'* 
district of the county. Colored men were forced to assist at 
some of them, as in the case of Horace Hammond, where 
some of the jury were colored men. In one instance the 
coroner's jury was made up from the number wlio did the 
hanging. Their verdict, however, was the same as in the 
case of Hammond: " Came to his death by hanging by 
parties unknown." 

The hanging of Patterson has attracted some notice beyond 
the borders of Yazoo. He was my friend, an intelligent^ 
cultivated, orderly, peace-loving man. He was one of the 
three members from our county in the State House of 
Representatives. I knew him persanally and well. I never 
heard him use profane or vulgar language. His habits 
were exceptionally good. I never knew or heard that he 
used intoxicating liquors. It is said that as chairman of the 
Republican club in his neighborhood in former campaigns, he 
had made arrangements, regardless of the threats of the 
enemy, for a Republican meeting. The fact was noised 
abroad. The result was reported to Mr. Ethel Barksdale't* 
paper as follows. 

From the Clarion, October 20, 1875: 

" MURDER IN YAZOO COUNTY— PATTERSON, A NEGRO MEMBER OF 
THE LEGISLATURE, KILLS ANOTHER NEGRO IN HIS BED. 

'' Yazoo City, October 19. 
" Editors Clarion : 

" A horrible murder was committed on Silver Creek last night. 
Patterson, a member of the legislature, shot and killed another 
negro while in bed. They quarreled the day before, and exchanged 
shots. Patterson ran, but afterwards killed his antagonist in a most 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM, 483 

cowardly manner. His friends swore he should not be arrested. The 
negroes being numerous, it was thought best to send to this city for 
assistance, and a company left here this morfling to arrest the assas- 
sin. In all probability they will do it. Democrat." 

Next day the Clarion contained the following: 

'•YAZOO COUNTY — A DEMOCRATIC COLORED MAN SHOT AND THE 
MAN WHO INSTIGATED THE DEED LOST IN THE WOODS— A VIO- 
LENT BLACK-LINER OF THE INFAMOUS LEGISLATURE OF 1S75 
MEETS HIS REWARD. 

'• Yazoo City, October 20. 
" To the CUtrinn: 

" The deputy sheriff and posse who left here yesterday to arrest 
Patterson, who, it is supposed, murdered a negro on Silver Creek 
because he was a Democrat, have just returned. They report that 
they captured Patterson and another negro who- is implicated in the 
murder. Patterson paid this negro fifty dollars to do the deed . 

" The deputy and posse were returning to this city with their 
prisoners, when they were met by an armed body and Patterson 
taken from them. They report him lost in the swamp. The other 
prisoner was brought to this city and place 1 in the county jail. 

" Campbell." 

Still later, and after it was all over, December 3,1875, 

this same paper contained the following: 

" THE LYNCHINC4 OF PATTERSOX BY COLORED MEN. 

"• A loud wail goes up from the radical organs over the lynching of 
Patterson, in Yazoo, but they forget to say anything about the unfor- 
tunate colored man whom he caused to be murdered. It turns out 
that it was all the work of colored people. Patterson and his accom- 
plice were colored, and he was tried, condemned, and executed by 
colored men— two-thirds of whom were, no doubt, Republicans. The 
Yazoo Herald says: 

" On being captured, the murderer confessed everything; and upon 
his testimony Patterson was arrested and adjudged guilty by the large 
number of negroes living on the place where the bloody deed was 
committed the night before. Tliey were terribly excited against 
him. His body, when next seen, was in a state of suspension. The 
negro who acted as Patterson's proxy, upon the bloody occasion in 
question, is now in jail, and it is only a auestion of time when he 
too, will take a swing at the expense of the county."* 

This is the way an eye-witness, one of the hornet's com- 
panj', described it: 
" We just took him out there and got him on top of a mule, and put 

* I have been informed that he was afterward released. 



484 YAZOO ; or, 

■a rope around his neck and tied it to the limb of a pecan tree, and 
"drove the mule out from under him, and in driving the mule outfrom 
under him it pretty near killed him, and to keep him from dying 
there, with his feet on the ground, we took hold of the otlier end of 
the rope and pulled him up; before we could get the knot untied he 
■died— it was tied in such a bungling way."* 

That is the way and such the spirit in which my friend 
"was hung by those ''high-toned, honorable, Southern gen- 
tlemen!" So 1 believed then, so I still believe, and so my 
reader will, as I believe, when the story shall be finished. 
Among other horrors of that campaign are the following : 
From the Yazoo City Herald (Democratic), October 15, 
'1875: 

"x\s our long-absent Senator Everett was engaged in assisting his 
l>roth€r at his gin-house the other morning, he chanced to discover 
from the gin-room a certain company, whicli was moving toward Big 
Black on a reconnoitering expedition, and since the world was made, 
mo man of woman born ever mounted the roof of a horse sooner, or 
fied with more precipitation than was done by him on that exciting 
■occasioji. When last seen he was going toward the mountains of 
Hepsidam, where the lion roareth and the whaugdoodle mourneth for 
its first-born." 

From the Democrat : 

'• There is no radical ticket in the field, and it is more than likely 
■there will be none, for the leaders are not in the city, and dare not 
(press their claims in this county." 

From the Yazoo City Herald : 

'■' Captain Taylorr is putting forth all his energies in the present 
-canvass, and if he does not keep his end of the line up it will be from 
aio lack of exertion." 

From the Democrat : 

" The negroes are anxious to form a Democratic club in this place 
^►ut are afraid. Let a committee from the white Democratic club be 
■appointed to organize them, and assure their protection. 

"The proceedings of the first colored club Democratic in faith 
'formed in this county, we give in this issue of the Democrat- It 
■numbers some seventy odd men. Colored people let the good work 
go bravely on." 

* That his fate might be a warniug to all other Republicans, his body was left hanging 
Ltliere until the buzzards came and picked it. 
tCaptain of the cavalry company. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 485'. 

I suggested a plan b}' which it was hoped a few votes- 
might be secured in opposition to the ticls:et of the enemy,, 
but it was met with the same hostility that had been mani- 
fested toward me. 

The Banner met it thus: 

'^ It is no longer ' renounce tne devil and his pomp,' but forswear 
his twin brother radicalism, with his manifold machinations and 
chicanery; then you, with your county, will be safe. Take a little- 
advice, ye imps of radicalism hereabouts." 

The " Conservative " suggested for the office of sheriff 
and tax-collector on that ticket, responded as follows: "Any 
other ticket in the field than that nominated by the Demo- 
cratic party, through its accredited representatives, on the- 
2d instant, is Morgan's ticket, and must be so regarded." 

Every leading white Republican remaining in the county 
surrendered and published the fact over his own signature,, 
and then sent word to me that they had done so in the hope 
of preventing further bloodshed, and of saving their owo 
property and lives. 

One organized a company, and took his place in line with 
the white leaguers, " to kill niggers when necessary," and to 
aid in suppressing the "risings," which were "about to- 

occur." 

The chairman of the county Democratic committee- 
entered the United States post-office and caused all commu- 
nications addressed to leading Republicans relating to the 
canvass and to the approaching election, to be destroyed — 

burned.* 

At last, when election day arrived and the result was an- 
nounced, ihe ticket of the enemy had received (so it wa» 
declared) 4,044 votes. Thpre were two votes for me, but 
as was announced at the time, these were cast by the hornet, 
who explained that it would " not do to be too d— d unani- 
mous." Perhaps this was the real reason for the three votes 
cast bj^ the enemy in 1867. 

*See Report ol United States Senate Select Committee on Mississippi elecliou ot 
1875, pp. 1058 and 1059, testimony of the Postmaster. 



486 YAZOO; OR, 

The enemy's rejoicings over this result were as extrava 
gant as their jubilations over the result of the election in 
Massachusetts the year previous,, or, as their violent efforts 
to win it. The hornet was elevated into a sort of demigod, 
and all sounded his praises. A movement was set on foot 
to raise a fund with which to purchase a suitable testimonial 
of their appreciation of his services. In order that all might 
share in that pleasure, it was arranged that no one should 
be allowed to contribute more than ten cents — except the 
head of a family, who might contribute ten cents for each of 
his or her children. This fund was quickly raised, and upon 
the testimonial — a massive silver pitcher — was engraved the 
following : 

"To 
The Bravest of tlie Brave, 
Captain Henry M. Dixon. 
*' Presented to him by liis Democratic fellow-citizens of Yazoo 
County, as an humMe testimonial of their high appreciation of his 
brilliant services in the redemption of the county from radical rule 
in 1875." 

The Banner said : 

" Let no man dare say that a nobler man ever lived." 

Then a great county gathering was held, at which were 
present Ethel Barksdale and Otho R. Singleton, both now 
in the House of Representatives at Washington, and L. Q. 
C. Lamar and J. Z. George, present United States Senators 
from that State. Before these distinguished persons, the 
hornet and his company were paraded, dressed and armed 
as when on their hanging expeditions, and there in the pres- 
ence of the vast throng, over whom waved our grand old flag, 
received, fresh from the lips of these, their true and tried 
captains and leaders, Barksdale, Singleton, George, Lamar, 
the thanks of "the people " of the count}^ " the people " of 
the State, and, of "our people" every Adhere, for their 
"■ glorious services " in behalf of " our sacred cause."* 

So far as I have been able to learn no trace has ever been 

* It was here and by those distinguished statesmen (?) that Yazoo was christened the 
Banner county of the State. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 487 

found by the hornet, by Taylor, nor by any of the armed 
'Organizations, of those " sixteen hundred army guns " of 
Benjamin Franklin Eddinand James Red Sands, or of either 
•of those characters. Their. names are not among the dead 
of that canvass. Indeed, after the campaign had opened in 
Tight good earnest on the part of the enemy, nothing was 
said or done about that matter. It appears to have been lost 
sight of. 

Throughout that period the Republicans were as helpless 
as babes. There was never any resistance at all by them to 
the violence of the enemy. 

That campaign in Yazoo has been called " the coronation 
of the Mississippi plan." So it was; for in twenty-six other 
■counties of the State that year the enemy were less humane. 
In some of that number Republicans resisted by violence the 
•aggressions of the enemy, and were massacred in crowds of 
ten, twenty, fifty, and, in one county, it was said quite one 
hundred were killed. But in Yazoo, instead of summoning 
the unarmed colored men against the disciplined and fully 
•equipped ranks of the white league, the Republican leaders 
made their tight upon the picket-line, trusting to the reserves 
at the North to fill their places when they should be all 
killed, captured, or in retreat. Therefore, only leaders were 
killed in Yazoo, and only so many of them as was necessary 
to convince Republicans that their opponents would kill if 
necessary, that they had the power to kill, and that there were 
none to forbid it, or to punish them for it afterward. There- 
fore the mass of the Republicans remained silent and passive. 
•Ohio and Massachusetts had gone Democratic. Had I sum- 
moned a posse of colored men and resisted, of course there 
would have been a general massacre in Yazoo, too. That 
I would not do. Therefore the hornet and all his aids were 
entitled to the thanks of mankind ! The hornet received the 
thanks of "our people" on the occasion mentioned. His 
reward came later. 

By such means as I have here but faintly detailed Yazoo 
and MlBsissippi were '' redeemed." 



488 YAZOO; or, 

By such means Major W. D. Gibbs, ray opponent in 1869, 
recovered his own without the aid of Reuben, and took his 
place in the State Senate; the attorney for Mars' Si, who 
was also for the State against Charles, and for Mr. Hilliard 
against me, was elected to the House, and Captain Taylor of 
the cavalry company, was elected to be sheriff and tax-col- 
lector. 

Within twenty-four hours after their new government was 
installed in the places of " we all " Republicans, the county 
treasury was entered and every dollar of the school fund 
carried off.* To this day, it is said that the robbery was by 
"persons unknown." 

Then their grand jury, selected by the same means as 
were Gibbs, Taylor, and Mars' Si's attorney, on their solemn 
oaths, presented to the court " a true bill " for murder against 
me. 

♦About twenty-eight thousand dollars. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM, 48^ 



CHAPTER LXX. 

VIEWS OF SOUTHERN STATESMEN UPON "OUR PEOPLE" AND "OUR 
SACRED CAUSE " — DEATH OF THE HORNET. 



"Conscious that they themselves* were animated by devotion to 
constitutional liberty, and that the brightest pages of history are 
replete with evidences of the depth and sincerity of that devotion, 
they can but cnerish the recollections of sacrifices endured, the btit- 
tles fought and the victories won in defense of their hapless cause/' 
— From L. Q. 0. Lamar's Eulo(jium on Mr. Sumner^ in the National 
House of Representatives, April 27, 1874. 

THE events mentioned in the last chapter occurred eight 
years ago. All the chief conspirators are still living; 
Barksdale, George and Lamar. They are all in the Con- 
gress of the United States. 

Their dupes, Captain Telsub, the hornet, and Haider are 
dead ; all died by violence. The death of each was most 
pitiful, tragic. The former was killed in Texas ; a private 
quarrel, it was said. It was also said that upon his body were 
found some of the missing school funds of Yazoo County. 
The hornet died a martyr to free speech, and while defend- 
ing the negro's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- 
piness. 

For four years there had been but one political party in 
the county. The irrecoucilables dominated that party abso- 
lutely, and they called it the Democratic party. By their 
admirers throughout the State they were called the " Banner 
Democracy of the Banner County." That year, 1879, tho 
hornet became the leader of the " disaffected," and champion 

* The slave-holding rebels 



490 YAZOO ; OR. 

of a movement designed to build up an opposition party. 
He had the encouragement and support of many of Yazoo's 
*' best citizens." " Our nigros " were quick to seize upon that 
movement as opening a way out of the political slavery in 
which they were groaning, and rallied to that standard almost 
en masse. 

The banner Democracy found in that fact proof, " strong 
as holy writ," that the colored people were again " about to 
rise," and promptly set on foot precisely the same means as 
had been employed for the overthrow of our free State gov- 
■ernment. Rumors of " nigro risings" became once more 
frequent. The result was a large gathering of the armed 
^'independent companies " at Yazoo City, July 25, 1879, 
when a formal demand was made upon the hornet that he 
should withdraw from his candidacy for the sheriff's office. 
To this demand he made the following response, which was 
published in the Yazoo City Herald (extra): 
*' To the PuUic : 

" For the sake of the peace and harmony of the country, and the 
affection I bear for my family and friends, I agree to withdraw from 
the political canvass or race issue in the future, provided I will be 
protected in my rights as any other citizen; and my friend, R. A. 
Flannagan, is to be unmolested in his rights, etc. 

" H. M. Dixon. 

'■'■ Yazoo City, July 25, 1879." 

Commenting on this the Herald's editor said that the rea- 
son assigned for the withdrawal, the " race issue," was not 

" satisfactory to the great assembly of earnest, determined men. He 
finally, however, consented to quit the canvass now and forever, * 
* * so the political canvass in this county may be considered at an 
end. The Democi'atic flag now waves over the glorious old county, 
uncontaminated and unchallenged, and long may it wave." 

A challenge was to come, however. For immediately after 
''the great assembly of earnest, determined men" had dis- 
persed, Mr. Dixon announced that his withdrawal had been 
procured by force, and while he was in duress, therefore it 
was null and void. ' 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 491 

But the banner Democracy were equ'al to this emergency. 
Another meeting was called. 

1 have a souvenir of this event. It is a printed document, 
from which 1 extract the following headlines and so forth : 

" PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF YAZOO 
COUNTY— PROCEEDINGS OF THE DEMOCRATIC MASS MEETING HELD 
IN YAZOO CITY, MISS., AUGUST 15, '79. 

" Pursuant to a call a meeting of fully one thousand Democrats 
was held in Yazoo City on Friday, the loth instant. 

"Dr. P. J. McCormick was selected to preside over the meeting, 
and ou motion Mr. John T. Posey was requested to act as secretary.''* 

This ''meeting" adopted the following declaratipn of prin- 

ples : 

* * * u -^Yg (jeclare as our belief that he has sought and is now 
•seeking by all the devilish devices of a low, corrupt intriguer in pol- 
itics to array the colored people of the county against the whites— to 
stir up a race prejudice and a race conflict— and to bring strife and 
■confusion throughout our borders, and all this because he wants the 
fees and perquisites of the sheriff's oftice and sees no other way of 
getting them. For these reasons we say that the man II. M. Dixon 
is not flt to be sheriff of our county, and we here deny that he has a 
right to be allowed to run for such office, or for any office in this county 
on the issues thus made up by him. 

* * * "To sum up in brief our opinion and estimate of the char- 
acter of the man Dixon, we declare as our deliberate opinion that he 
is a murderer, a gambler, a bully, a tliief, a man of violence, of blood? 
of lies, a man who will pack juries, a low, unprincipled demagogue in 
politics, and an infldel in religion. He unites in himself every quality 
required to make him the detestable monster that he is, and he wants 
€very qualification necessary to make him the gentleman that he is not. 
For these reasons we say that we detest the man II. M. Dixon, and 
we say further that he is not fit in any sense to hold any office of honor, 
profit or trust known to our laws: and we furthermore declare and 
say that he shall not hold any such office in our county if in our power 
to prevent it ; and as evidence of our sincerity in tliis declaration we 
■do hereby further declare that we ratify and confirm the acts and 
doings of our fellow Democrats at Yazoo City on the 2.5th of July 
last, and that we will stand to and abide by their actions and the 
actions of this meeting at every liazard, and to the last extremity." 

* * * " We further declare as our belief that the man Dixon 
appropriated to his own use some t$l,500 or $1,600) fifteen hundred or 

* This secretary will be heard from again. 



492 YAZUO; OR, 

sixteen hundred dollavs in money, warrants and notes, which was 
taken from the body of the negro Patterson, who was hung on Silver 
Creek in 1875.* It can be proved that Dixon took this money, and 
that when he was asked in Yazoo City, a few days after the hanging, 
what he had done or proposed to do with the money, he replied : 
(waving his hand to the iron safe of Messrs. Natlian & Hirsh), ' It is 
there, and I intend that the boys shall have a good time on it.' The 
person who put the question replied : ' As one of the boys, I want no 
good time out of that money.' A hij^hly respectable gentleman (now 
in this city) was requested by Tatterson to take charge of his money 
and send it to Patterson's relatives in Ohio. This gentleman will 
prove that he saw this money put into Dixon's hands, and although 
he urged that the wish of the negro should be strictly complied with, 
he has reason to believe and does believe that the relatives of Patter- 
son never received one cent of this money." 

It would seem that this declaration was adopted unani- 
mously. 

This souvenir was promptly inclosed in an envelope, post- 
marked Yazoo City, August 18, and was addressed to me in 
the well-known hand of Fritz Haider, who also wrote his 
" compliments " in the upper left hand corner. I presumed at 
the time that this was intended by Haider as a hint that he 
was now ready to shake hands with me " over the bloody 
chasm." But up to the present moment I have not been 
able to see any cause for congratulation in the proceedings 
of that meeting, for, before the souvenir reached me, indeed, 
the very next time the hornet appeared upon the main street, 
a man with a double-barrelled shot-gun in his hands killed him. 
The man's name is Barksdale. He is, I believe, a nephew of 
Congressman Barksdale, who is, I am informed, a brother of 
the late William Barksdale, who was in Congress when Mis- 
sissippi's Congressmen, with Jefferson Davis at their head, 
seceded from that body. 

Some of the " best citizens " of Yazoo saw nothing but 
shame in it. Of the number was Mars Si's attorney for 
the State against Charles and for Hilliurd against me ; the 
very same who was elected in 1875, wheu Yazoo was '■' re- 
deemed " by the means I have but so faintly set forth, to 

* Our ReiJiiblicau legislator. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 493 

Fat^ei'son's vacant seat in the State legislature. From a let- 
ter written and published by him jast after Mr. Dixon's death 
I extract the following: 

''AVhen is bull-dozing and intimidation to end? When are we to 
have a free, iniawed aspiration for office, canvass and election ? When 
is our mother district to be unstained with the blood of the citizens, 
and when shall the graves cease to be filled with the dead on election 
years and occasions V When are the wails and cries of the bereft 
widows and orphans to be unheard in party organizations and elec- 
tions ? Why the continued threats and intimidation against those 
who may see fit to organize the colored voters to vote any particular 
ticket, when there are no tickets but what are almost exclusively 
composed of old and tried white citizens of Yazoo County V They 
know and we know that there has been bull-dozing, and even worse." 

As maybe inferred from the Herald's comments, the move- 
ment for an opposition party in Yazoo died with Mr. Henry 
M. Dixon. Nevertheless, the public was at once informed 
through the Associated Press and otherwise, that the killing 
was the result of a private quarrel between Mr. Dixon and 
Barksdale. 

One of the last acts of this man's life was the publication 
of the following card, which appeared in the Herald as an 
advertisement: 

* * * " I again say that the supposed Patterson money was used 
to defray current expenses for the eventful campaign of 1875. 

" I further state $3,000 was used as a bribe to have the ballot-boxes 
stuffed, if necessary, and to issue certificates of election to Demo- 
cratic candidates ; that Dr. P. J. McCormick was chairman of the 
Democratic Executive Committee at the time, and was party to tlie 
•contract. I have in my possession the necessary receipt to -how who 
received the $ {,000 ; also the false key to tlie ballot-box 

"• I consider that my conduct throughout the canvass of 1S7-") was 
indorsed by all Democratic citizens, and I do not fear that my charac- 
ter will suffer by any cowardly attack made for a political purpose. 
" Eespectf ully, H. M. Dixon." 



494 YAZOO ; or^ 



CHAPTER LXXr. 



IN THE HANDS OF THE LORD. 



" For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red ; 
it is full of mixture, and He poureth out of the same : but the dregs 
thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink 
them.*'— PsaZms Ixxv; 8. 

FOCFR years later, it was Christmas eve, 1882, a "high-tone<i 
honorable gentleman " named Posey, John T. Posey, " soui 
of General Carnot Posey, of Confederate fame," attended a 
"negro bull " in Yazo^ City. There he met and had a ^'per- 
sonal altercation " with one John Jame^, " a nigger." It is 
said that the quarrel was the re,^ult of a rivalry between 
Posey and James for the smiles of one of the " belles of the 
ball." Posey insulted James and James struck Posey. James 
was arrested, but Posey refused to prosecute. That is, Posey 
refused to publish the cause of the quarrel. He was a "gen- 
tleman," and James was only " a nigger." Besides, the 
" belle " was only " a nigro wench." 

During these long years of woe, during these years of "white 
supremacy" in Yazoo, a sp irk of Federal authority remained. 
Mr. Bedwell, who had married a " Southern lady/' was still 
postmaster, and Mr. Foote had been a deputy collector of 
internal revenue. Now " our best citizens " could tolerate 
Bedwell, but that " nigro Foote " was all the while a thorn 
in their side. His office as well as his person was concen- 
trated incendiarism, a perpetual menace. How could " our 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 495 

iiigros" be made to "keep thar places" with Foote in a 
place which, by divine right, belonged to a ''white? " The 
situation was made more tragic by the fact that Foote dared,, 
upon occasion, to shoot at a " white." Foote was allowed 
no peace in that office. He was' frequently warned of plots 
by the "best citizens," to "get rid of that d — d nigger 
revenue collector." "The little Yankee garrison" had 
already been got rid of. The old " guard" had all been killed 
or had died, or "gone otf" to Kan?as, or had surrendered. 
The " what is it" alone remained. He had stood squarely 
by Mr. Dixon in his last raid. His friends were Southern- 
ers, and he had come to hjive an abiding hatred of the Yan- 
kees, whose failure in 1875 to come to the succor of our 
government, in its final struggle with the old slave oligarchs^ 
had eliminated from his breast not only all hope of succor from 
the North, but also all respect for JSTortherners. Thus mat- 
ters stood a year later, Christmas eve, 1883. 

That evening John T. Posey set out, at the head of some 
congenial spirits from the "riuperiah " side of the line, to 
" whip a nigger," Naturally enough John James at that 
moment stood most in need of a thrashing. But James was 
employed at the meat market by one Lynch, " the butcher," 
a " po' white." 

Learning of the intentions of Posey and his party James, 
with the full consent of his euiployer, and by his command,, 
took refuge in the butcher shop. 

Nothing daunted by this interference of a " po', no-count 
white man," Posey, at the head of his followers, went away 
and procured weapons. 

Meanwhile several of James' friends, colored men, came 
to his succor. Posey and his friends returned. At that mo- 
ment the " po' white," the employer of James, was standing 
in front of his shop. As the Posey party approached he 
walked out into the street, " held up his hands," and said : 

" You can't one of you go in my house. I ain't a-going to 
have any row in there."* 

♦From the testimony of Posey'.s business partner, Thomas Williiims, white Democrat, 
upon the "trial " which followed. 



4^6 TAZOO; OR, 

At this juncture Mr. Foote approached the Posey group. 
It would seem that he was alone. The handful of Posey's 
friends had grown into a crowd. At this moment an em- 
ployee of Posey's appeared upon tho scene. In his exami- 
nation upon the trial which' followed, this employee, John 
Link, a white and a Democrat, swore: 

" I went out into the middle of the road toward Lynch 's and with 
John Posey, who said that James was in that back room with a crowd 
■of negroes, and that James had to be whipped. * * * Posey then 
started right towards Lynch's corner with th :■ crowd, and remarked: 
'Don't let Foote get behind me. ' " 

Then it was said, Foote and a '' Yankee,"* who was one of 
the Posey crowd, had au '^ altercation." Then Foote wa? 
knocked down ; then the firing began. 

Upon the ^' trial" it was said that some colored men had 
said before the firing, that if it should begin, it would not 
end as it did in 1875. It was said that Mr. Foote had said 
this. If so, Mr, Foote spoke more truly than he knew. It 
did not end as in 1875. It began with the death of John T. 
Posey, Carnot Posey, John's brother, a young man named 
Nichols, and Fritz Haider, The Yankee was wounded. All 
were white. 

Who did the killing ? 

John Link, above-mentioned witness, further testified upon 

that trial: 

" Posey rushed right up to the front door of Lynch's butcher-shop. 
Mr. Haider arrested him on the sidewalk, almost immediately at 
Lynch's door. Pof^ey told him to turn him loose, that he had no right 
to stop him. " 

At this point the recollection of all the " high-toned " wit- 
nesses, so far as 1 have been able to learn, be comes confused 
except in the case of one, who said that after Foote was 
struck, and v;hile falling, he fired his pistol. 

Did these whites kill each other or were they killed by 
Foote or by James and his friends who were " in that back 
room?" 

* This Yankee was doubtless trying to prove that he was as "good a friend to tlie 
•South " as any one elee. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 497 

The next day it appears to have been believed by some 
that " our nigros " did it. 

Foote was present, at all events. He did not run away. 
He trusted in his cause and in his white Southern friends. 
James ran away, was pursued, and shot to death; " riddled 
with bullets." His employer, that " po' white," Foote, and 
-some ton more, colored, men, were charged with murder, 
arrested and locked up in that Yazoo jail. 

And this is the way it ended. I quote from a special dis- 
.patch to the St. Louis G'obe- Democrat, dated Yazoo City, 
December 29, 1883, from which all the foregoing extracts 
from the testimony at the "trial " have been taken : 

" Five o'clock, the hour set by some of the most active for moving 
on the jail, caine and passed. It wis very quiet, and some of the 
leading citizens claimed that there would bs uo trouble to-night. It 
was only a calm before a storm. 

'•Half a dozen mounted men g;illoped into town over the highway 
leading up the Tazoo Valley. Then came a delegtition from Bento- 
nia. Then others. At 6 10. just after dark, a squad of men, armed 
with shot-guns, made their appearance on the lower part of Main 
street. They moved up toward Jefferson, and as they marched others 
joined them. The column grew at every step. They turned up Jef- 
ferson and went a block; then they stopi)ed. An oldgentlemin spoke 
to them and said : 

" ■ Boys, are you organized ? Aren't you too early ?' 

*■ Somebody replied : ' We tried to hold them back, but they would 
-start.' 

"Half a block north there was another halt. Some of the more 
prudent counseled delay, A great chorus of ' noes ' greeted this. 
' Go ahead, go ahead ; they'll get them all out if we don't hurry.' This 
last shout caught the popular sentiment. There was a great shout of 
*■ Go on, go on,' then a cheer, which rang through the city. The 
crowd, grown to fully 2 )0 pressed ahead at a rapid walk toward the 
jail. There was no masking, and not the slightest attempt at conceal, 
ment. Men recognized each other by name and shook hands while 
they waited for the committee inside to bring out the prisoners. 
There was some delay after passing the first door to the jail proper. 

'•Just at this juncture Mr. James A. Barksdale, a member of the 
legislature,* entered the jail, and. addressing several of those stand- 
ing at the door, inquired for ex- Sheriff Taylor. t The latter could not 
lie found. It was evidently Mr. B.irksdale's intention to get Mr. 

* The same who .shot Mr. Dixon 

t Captain Taylor, of the cavalry company. 

32y 



498 YAZOO; or, 

Taylor, who is one of tlie most influential men of the county, to- 
join him in a final appeal to the crowd to let the law have its course. 

" After ten minutes' work the cell in wliich was Robert Swayze was: 
opened, and he was led into the hall. He made no fight whatever, 
but stood erect while the noose at the end of a long rope was put 
about his neck. Then his hands were tied behind him. Two or 
three conflicting commands were given — one was for a squad to go 
down town and get more rope. Somebody shouted ' Shoot 'em.' 
This was yelled down, 'Ko, no; hang "em to one limb.' This last 
suggestion was accepted. 

"'Throw the end of the rope over the fence. We'll string him' 
right up here.' 

" The end was thrown over the fence, and a dozen inside caught 
hold and began pulling. Swayze was raised up to his tip-toes, and' 
then the rope caught in a crack and stuck fast. 

" ' This is cruel; why didn't you go to a tree r" somebody exclaimed. 
An active fellow mounted another man's shoulders, caught the top 
of the fence and? tugged at the rope, while the one on the outside held' 
Swayze up. It seemed an hour. It was perhaps only a minute, until: 
the rope was loosened again. Then it was pulled until Swayze was 
swung six inches off the ground. It caught again, but those outside 
said it was high enough, and the men inside stopped pulling. 

" ' Hurry up with that rope. Ain't he dead yet V came from the 
door of tlie jail. 

"' It will take all night at this rate.' 

" '• Put a bullet through him,' somebody said, but this was shoutedJ 
down. 

" 'Bring out that Internal Revenue Collector, we want him next,'' 
came from the yard. 

" It was not necessary, for the committee had already commenced 
on the doors where W. II. Foote was confined. Fbote walked over 
and t ok a drink from a bucket of water, then placed himself with 
his left side against the wall and stood facing the spot where, as the- 
door swung back, he would meet the first man who entered. Sud- 
denly the door swung open. As it let in the crowd' Foote raised his 
right hand with a missile in it and struck out. The first man went 
to the floor under the blow. Half a dozen were in before another 
blow could l>e given. Fbote fought like a tiger. 

" There was a sh-ot, then another, and three more in quick succes- 
sion. The light had gone out in the midst of the struggle, and as the 
shots were fired they illuminated the room a single second, and showed 
confused struggling. Then all was quiet. The man who entered 
first and received Foote"s blow was a young farmer named A. Fathe- 
ree,* from Free Run, in this county, in the melee one of tlie bullets 
had struck him in tire- instep of the foot, making a very ugly wound.. 

*My recollection is that this is the same young man who, in 1869 ■ assayed !0 whip. 
Foote, and got awhippiug himselt instead. 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 499' 

As soon as a light was brought in and Fatheree had heen carried out 
Foote was examined. There were some signs of life. Six shots were 
fired with steady aim, and those who cared to entered the room and 
satisfied themselves that the negro was dead. His forehead was shot 
away, and blood and brain covered a space of the floor a yard square. 
Nearly all the bullets had been sent into his head. He was so muti- 
lated as to be scarcely recognizable. Foote undoubtedly made the- 
fight to provoke the shooting, that he might die that way rather than 
be hung. 

" Ten feet away hung the lifeless body of Swayze, a dark outline 
against the high white fence. Close by Avas the iron gate through 
which the avengers passed back and forth. Occasionally somebody 
lighted a match and held it up in front of Swayze's head and face for 
a better view. 

" Meanwhile the workers inside had reached a point where they 
were baffled. The iron cage from St. Ijouis proved as hard to get intO' 
as it is to get out of. A half hoar slipped away, and those outside 
murmured at the delay. 

" When those deputed to bring out the prisoners found that it 
would be impossible to get at Gibbs they told his fellow-prisoners 
that they must hold Gibbs up to the grating or all of them were likely 
to be shot in the effort to kill the one wanted. They took hold of 
him, but he said: ' I know I've got to die; I'm ready,' and faced the 
grating with little support from his companions. A lamp was 
brought and held. A bullet was fired through the negro's heart. He- 
dropped, and another bullet was fired into him. Then the end of the- 
rope was passed in over the top of the grating and Gibbs' cell-mates-, 
two negroes, fastened the noose about his neck. He was then drawii( 
up by those outside as high as the height of the cell would permit and 
the rope tied. There he was left. Three parts of the programme 
were finished. 

" In a cell on the upper floor Micajah Parker was found. The little- 
darkey, black as midnight, came out trembling. There was no rope. 
Swayze was taken down from the fence and dragged inside the yard. 
The rope was taken off and passed into the jail. It took but a moment 
to adjust the noose to Parker's neck, and then he was dropped over 
an inside balcony and the end made fast. Ten minutes were allowed 
for strangulation to do its work. Those outside who felt the curiosity 
went in to see the disposition made of Parker and Gibbs. A brief 
halt was made at the corner of the yard, and then the column marched 
down the street toward the business centre, growing smaller and 
smaller all the way. When it reached lower Main street it was 
reduced to the out-of-town detachments, and in a few minutes they 
were riding homeward. 

The next day. From the same : 

"Close by Parker's body was the door opening into the cell wliere 



500 YAZOO; OR, 

Foote made his desperate fight and forced those in front to shoot him. 
In daylight the remains seemed even more ghastly than they did last 
night. There were bullet holes in the face and forehead and chest, 
eight or ten of them. The left side of the head was shot away and 
the right side of the throat was cut. His hands were tightly clinched. 
They had stiffened in death as he had last used them. When the 
crowd was heard coming toward the jail an oilicer went to the door 
and said : 

" ' Foote, I expect your time is coming. You hear them ? Take 
it as easy as you can.' 

'' There was just the slightest tremor in his voice as he replied : 
' Yes I hear them; I'll try to take it quietly' 

•• Then he quietly put out the light and waited. 

"• But in the j'ard, just to tlie right of the walk leading up from the 
iron gate in tlie liigh feace, lay the body of Robsri: Sw.iyze. It had 
lain there all night in the rain, The face was upturned and the head 
twisted, revealing two gashes in the side of the neck. Somebody 
had attempted to complete or shorten the work of strangulation by 
the use of the knife, but the wounds were not deep. The blood seemed 
to be still trickling from them. The hanging of Swayze was done on 
a sudden impulse as to place and was a bungling job at best. The end 
of the rope was thrown over the fence and he was liauled off the 
ground, but not altogether. The rope had caught once or twice and 
delayed the work. Witli a view of hastening matt'^rs, and to shorten 
the negro's misery, somebody climbed up and stood on Swayze's 
shoulders, holding to the top of the fence, and thus bringing a double 
weight upon the neck of the dying black. 

THE INQUEST. 

" About 9 o'clock tliis morning Coroner Rosentlial entered the jail 
yard with his jury, and as they stood around the body of Swayze, he 
read with uncovered head the law pertaining to inquests. In a simi- 
lar manner the jury looked upon Foote, Parker and Gibbs. Tlie jury 
stepped into the jail office and consulted about five minutes, then the 
coroner came to the door and said : 

'" Mr. Sheriff, you can turn the bodies over to tlie relatives, or if 
uncalled for they will be buried by the county.' 

•' The j urors marched out, hoisted their umbrellas and walked down- 
town to the magistrate's office, where they consulted again. In about 
half an hour they were discovered, having agree 1 on the following 
verdict : 

VEUDICT RENDERED. 

" We, the jury, duly impannelled and sworn, after proper and full 
investigation of the occurrence of last night, render our verdict as 
follows : 'That on the night of December 20, 18S3, at the jail of Ya- 
zoo County, between the hours of 7 and 8 o'clock, a body of unknown 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 601 

men, armed and fully equipped, did take possession of said jail and 
the bodies of W. H. Foote, Micajah Parker, lloljert Swayze and Rich- 
ard Gibbs, and killed them as follows : 

" 1. W. II. Foote came to his deatli by gunsliot wounds ; the party 
doing the shooting unknown. 

" 2. Eobert Swayze came to his death by bsing liung, and also by 
being cut in the neck with some kind of instrument unknown to the 
jury. 

" 3. Micajah Parker came to.'his death by being hung. 

" 4, Richard Gibbs came to his death by gunshot wounds. All tlie 
parties concerned being unknown to the jurors. 

A. D. Redding. 

L. S. SCIIWARZ. 

R. J. Bell. 
Wm. Richardson, 
j. e guynnek. 
R. B. Nesmith. 

'•The word unknown wlierever it occurs is underscored, as is also 
the final sentence." 

So the sherifi'was present at the coroner's inquest. Where 
was he the night before ? Where were all of Foote'd South- 
ern friends ? By the dispatch from which I have quoted, it 
would seem that the only persons who attempted to inter- 
fere were Barksdale and a good priest, Rev. Father Wise. 

When news of these deeds reached me I began the task of 
writing this book. Then I promised myself to not " wave 
the bloody shirt." Nor have I. Let others do that. But 
if not for the living something remains for the dead. It is 
from a letter to my wife, written by one of her former pupils. 
I cannot trust the public with her name; the reasons why I 
cannot should be apparent. I quote as follows : 

"Yazoo City, Januanj 2.'}, 18S4. 

* * * 'It made me happy to know that you thought of me in 
my troubles. Yes ; my darling husband is dead. He died the 29th 
of December. He had been sick four months. He was on the porch 
when the white men were shooting John James. He told me to put 
him to bed. That was Tuesday, and he died Saturday morning. I 
think the excitement killed him. My happiness is all over; I am 
broken-hearted. His grave is here, and I can't bear to leave it. * * * 

" It commenced to rain the night Mr. Foote was killed, and lias been 
raining ever since. It looks like tlie sun has refused to shine on 
Yazoo." * * ♦ 



502 YAZOO ; OR, 



CHAPTER LXXII. 



THEN AND NOW — HAVE PATIENCE — WAIT — THE FORTY YEARS 
IN THE WILDERNESS ARE PASSING AWAY. 



" We must not fold our hands in slumber, nor abide content with 
the past. To each generation is committed its peculiar task ; nor 
does the heart which responds to the call of duty find rest except in 
the grave."— i¥7-. Sumner. 

IN 1870 a young man, and unschooled in the arts of Southern 
politicians, 1 was thought by them to be a fit subject for 
their practice. I was in the State Senate. It was known that 
I had served on the Union side throughout the war. It was 
known that I was not in full sympathy with my party on 
certain questions then before our legislature. The " IN'a- 
tional Republican Conservative, Democratic, Home-folks, 
Dent party " journals were talking about me quite approv- 
ingly. One of these opened its columns for an expression of 
my views, and so forth. It was the Yicksburg Herald. It 
was then, and is now, the leading commercial newspaper of 
that State. 

Replying to my letter, the Herald said : 

"comments upon communication of ' JUSTICE.' " 

" This morning we present a communication from a prominent 
radical in this State— a man whom we respect as a man— one whom 
we know, or at least believe, to be as near conscientious in his politi- 
cal convictions as any sane man, who is a member of the radical 
party, can be. Asliis article, strange to say, is couched in respectful 
terms, we readily and willingly discuss with him. We say, ' strange 
to say,' from the fact that the radical cause is so hard to sustain in 
discussion, that its defenders are almost invariably driven into a 
species of ' billingsgate ' and personality, into which no journalist, 
who possesses any pride whatever, can descend." 



OTs THE PICKET LINE OF TREEDOM. ['03 

And then, " stnuijje to say," itself plunges headlong into 
•*' billingsgate," as follows : 

* * * " Kegro siiffi-age \> as never sustained by the radical party 
througliany love for the negro, or from any sense of duty. It origi- 
nated from a two-fold cause. Greatest of tliese causes was a misera- 
ble, cowardly hatred of tlie South and people, by a class of men who 
had never been in the army, but who, to create political capital at the 
North, became " twelf tli hour vaporers ; '" men who proposed to per- 
form prodigies of valor after the enemy had been conquered, captured 
and was bound— men who had skulked behind civil position and 
' bumb proofs ' of various kinds until the enemy was manacled, and 
then with reckless hardihood and unparalleled bravery, jumped with 
both heels into his face and punished him in the severest manner. 
These were the men who originated negro suffrage, and it was origi- 
nated because it was thought to be an engine of torture for the South 
and her people, and never through any love for the negro, * * * 
Another reason wiiy negro suffrage secured supporters from among 
the more respectable and decent portion of the radical party was, 
that in the negro as a voter it was thought there was an element of 
strength to the radical party, whose corruption it was plain to be 
seen was rapidly killing it among decent wliite men, as it will ere 
long kill it with all classes. But their valiant radical Congressmen 
pounding and belaboring in the most heroic style the bound South, 
never imagined that this thing of negro suffrage could ever become 
a two-edged sword, and while cutting and slashing the South would 
leave a gash here and there in the North." 

1 say, " strange to say." At that time it appeared strange. 
INow it does not appear at all strange to me. 

Our Yazoo Democrat welcomed tlie new order of things 
thus : 

* * * " We have only this much to say to our own folk The 
Constitution and laws are no longer what they were. Tiiey, too have 
been revolutionized and changed. But we must abide by them 

patiently, because they are law— bad, indeed, but still the lato. Time 
will come when we can remould them. * * * 

'' Then, D emocrats, stand to your principles like a knight to his 
"honor, never faltering. There is the key to success : beware of bribery 
in any shape ; be not tempted to sacrifice your virtue for the lleshpots 
of office. 

" In the meantime, let us get along as best we can. If we must for 

awhile have carpet-bag and scalawag rulers, let us prefer those who can 

do us the greatest good. Often, by using the balance of power when 

rival politicians of the other side cause division in their own ranks> 

and, by aiding the best, we can make a friend and beat a rascal." 



504 YAZOO ; OR^ 

After Credit Mobilier, Pacific Mail, Sanborn Contracts 
and Henry Ward Beecher had wrouo;ht their fatal spell 
upon the country — only five years later — our Democrat copied 
the following from that same Herald. 

From Yazoo City Democrat, June 1, 1875 : 

"have patience— wait. 
"Time makes all things even. The South has been burdened and 
insulted until it has sometimes seemed to the coolest and most candid' 
mind as if the intention was to enslave our people. 'Reconstruction'^ 
was a cloak for robbers ; every new law passed by Congress to affect 
the South had a poisoned sting somewhere concealed; the Southern 
States were looked upon as the legitimate harvest-field of the rascal 
and the thief. These things were, but time has worked some changes 
and will work others. Chandler, Butler, Carpenter, Pomeroyand the 
others whose hate of the Souih secured their election from constitu-^ 
encies even more insanely biased, have gone to i heir political graves, 
and they have no friends among the people. The honest men of the' 
North, no matter how they vote, repudiate the carpet-baggers. The 
people of the whole Union cry out against any further attempts at 
reconstruction. The officials placed in office by Grant's bayonets 
have no friends outside of the White House. There is a popular feel- 
ing in every neighborhood from. Maine to Texas, against the South 
being further burdened and robbed and insulted. Northern journals 
who were our bitter enemies one year ago, are now our friends and 
well-wishers. This current of feeling is growing wider and deeper 
every day and no matter what the President's feeling toward ns. he 
cannot stand before the popular and general demand that the South/ 
shall be left to pursue her way in peace. 

" We say to our people— have patience— wait. The long, dark night 
is passing away. Be industrious,, be economical,, be content. It is 
plain to all tliat peace and prosperity, such as has not been known for 
a decade, will soon dawn upon us. — Viclshurg Herald.''^ 

This vt^as only six months after the news was received in 
Mississijipi that Massachusetts had gone Democratic. 

" Our people " had but six months more to " wait." Jan- 
uary following a governm.eat of their own choosing was- 
installed in power throughout tlie State, and L. Q. C. Lamar 
was chosen United States Senator. We know by what means 
and at what cost. My friend Patterson's life and money were 
but a very small fraction of the whole. 

The HeraltV's forecast was correct. What, with corruption^ 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 505^ 

that had " become chronic in both the ^Teat political parties '^ 
at the Xorth, the tales " of outrage and wrong " perpetrated 
upon " our stricken brethren at the South," by " carpet-bag- 
gers and nigros," together with frequently recurring " nigra 
insurrections," our brave and generou-3 friends at the North 
grew " tired." The President dared not keep his " promise." 
The United States bayonets did not reach Mississippi. I did 
not reach the other shore. A robber, liar, and murderer — the- 
Mississippi bull-dozer — stood in the way, and from that day 
to this he has pursued his trade with m )st " superiah strategy 
and statesmanship." 

Some of the survivors of the campaign of 1875 the bull- 
dozer has silenced by cajolery, some he has bribed to silence, 
8')me he has silenced by threats and some he has killed. But 
such as he could neither cajole, bribe, intimidate, nor kill, he 
has pursued with a malice, a cunning, and a persistenc}'- that 
has driven them from their homes and scattered them to the 
four corners of the earth. 

Chisholm refused to surrender or run, and the bull-dozer 
killed his daughter that he might make surer work with him. 
Gilmer refused, and he " filled him full of lead." Charles 
Caldwell refused, and he " shot him all to pieces," and wan- 
tonly slew his half-witted brother. Page refused and ho tired 
his home and slew him and all his children, from the elder 
son to the baby in the cradle. But why continue the list ? 
I could add a hundred names more to it. 

Ever since that day when Lamar, Barksdale, George, and 
Singleton et nls., met with " our people " in Yazoo, and pub- 
licly thanked Mr. Dixon and his " company " for their " ser- 
vices" in the "redemption" of that State, and Yazoo was 
declared the banner county, colored men there have been 
whipped, hunted by hounds, and killed, and their mothers, 
wives, daughters and sweethearts have been reviled, seduced, 
raped, while Yazoo law gave them no redress. 

At last the survivors, like bleeding stags at bay, turned 
upon their pursuers and rended them. Then " our people " 
turned to fiendish brutes, glutted themselves with deeds, the 



506 YAZOO ; OR, 

story of which makes the heart sick. It was then, when all 
the light went out in Yazoo that I began to write this book 
and announced the fact in the press and by printed circulars. 
Then that same Vicksburg Herald published the following : 
[From the Vicksburg Herald, March 19, 1S84.] 

" Washington, March 13, 18S4.— Some years ago, ' ?re,' the Herald 
and ' One of the People," held some slight converse with some of our 
State officials of that period, and together arrayed such strong lines of 
truth that carpet-baggery and knavery moved away. Ko lives were 
taken, no blood was shed, but ever .-ince that glorious disappearance 
nearly every one of that set have termed themselves ' refugees from 
home.' Now, what a farce this is, nay, what a cold-blooded swindle it 
is, for such fellows as truth and justice peaceably drove away from 
Mississippi to claim to be 'refugees from home.' * * * * 

" Now, inclosed you will find conclusive evidence of an audacity as 
unlimited as it is unscrupulous, unfounded, and unjust. Here is a 
circular headed, ' Yazoo ; or, On the Picket Line of Freedom,' a new 
book by the late sheriff of Yazoo County, Miss. 

" And all this from a man whose name can never be remembered in 
Mississippi save with disgust. Here he is, a 'refugee from home.' 
Driven away by his own sins, his own disgrace, with not one single 
hand uplifted to do him personal violence or w-rong, he turns back 
upon the people he has wronged, after nearly ten years of secretive 
silence, and poisons and pollutes the atmosphere of public opinion by 

the most atrocious slanders. This is a secret circular, I believe. 

********* 

" The object I have in view of inclosing this to you is that our people 
may be forewarned and forearmed against this additional scheme of 
' outrage.' The forthcoming volume indicated by this circular is de- 
signed and intended as a campaign document to inflame the minds 
and arouse the anger of the people of the North. Its name, its title 
-page, shows what a hollow, false pretense it is, claiming to be the 
work, the history of a suffering. Union-loving patriot, yet, at the same 
time, is one of the basest works of one of the basest of his kind. 
Like the man who secretes this horrid and horrible menu of infamy 
and falsehood, this book should be stamped indellibly with a mark like 
that set on Cain, that all the world might know that here is a cold, 
blooded, fratricidal murder ! Here is an attempted, an assassin-like 
murder of all the good men of Mississippi; for what is the destruction 
■of our good names, reputation, and honor, save the worst kind of mur- 
der? Here is a cold blooded, atrocious wretch, who left Mississippi 
ten years ago. and who found a 'home ' and a salary, too, in one of 
-the departments here, who has remained silent during the whole of 
that long period, now wants to come out as the chieftain of all our 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 507 

•enemies, that lie may fatten again on tlie damnable wrongs lie has 
vlone to an honored people. 

'' The Herald has its host of friends and correspondents throughout 
the State. Let them draw tlie fangs from the reptile. T^et them 
present the true history of this slanderer to the Herald that the Her- 
<dd may give the w'hole truth in advance of this book to the country. 

" Our gallant and able Senators and Kepresentatives in Congress 
•are fighting our battles manfully and nobly, and tliey need assistance 
in the contest. Let our people not only show themselves conserva- 
tives, but let us be able to put down slander by truth. 

* * * * * 

"The war of the bloody shirt has commenced, and there is only 
one way to defend ourselves, and that is by the truth. So far, thank 
God, the truth has won, and just so sure as the sunshines just so sure 
will it continue to be victorious. One of the People." 

As I have said, after the white leagues broke up our meet- 
ing, September 1, 1875, a warrant charging me with an at- 
tempt to murder him, was phiced in the hands of Mr. Dixoa, 
and a hirge reward was oti'ered for me, dead or alive. I went 
about openly at the capital, and at Holly Springs, where my 
family were, and back and forth frequentlj^, yet no attempt 
was made to arrest me. It is my belief that the warrant was 
not intended for any such purpose, but that it was intended 
iis a means of excusing my assassination. 

When, finally, I h:id arrived in Washington, an;l a Senate 
committee was engaged in investigating the Mississippi elec- 
tion, a Yazoo grand jary, as heretofore mentioned, indicted 
me for murder. That was in 1876, Since that date I have 
travelled in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Missouri, 
of the Southern States, and in New England, all of the 
Middle, and most of the Western States. During all that 
time my place of residence has been the District of Columbia. 

Fritz Haider knew this when he addressed to me that sou- 
venir, I have been in regular correspondence with officials 
and others, Democrats and Ilepublicans, at Yazoo City dur- 
ing the entire time. I have made no effort whatever to con- 
ceal myself. On the contrary, I have frequently written for 
the press, and always over my own name. 

In 1876 I appeared before the Senate committee, in obedi- 



508 YAZOO ; OR, 

ence to its summons, and freely and fully told that committee- 
what I knew of the means employed by the enemy in Yazoo 
County, in 1875, for the overthrow of our free State govern- 
ment. At that time I " grossly insulted " the enemy, vvhen^ 
while under oath, I said : 

"I have been in public affairs in Mississippi since the or- 
ganization of the party in that State. With all my experience 
there I have never expended a dollar to buy or influence the 
support of the colored men in my behalf. I have never ex- 
pended a dollar for whisky, cigars, liquors, or treats of any 
kind or in any way to secure the favor of the colored people- 
I have no general sort of affiliation or association with them,, 
nor do I recollect ever having resorted to any means used 
by demagogues in politics to secure their favor. I reluctantly 
accepted office and was never beaten. I believe the colored 
people gave me their support because, from the outset, I ex- 
hibited a sincere desire to see them educated and made good: 
citizens ; and I believe that they appreciated that desire.. 
We have never had a color line in Yazoo politics, except when 
it was raised by the Democrats, and colored men have never 
clamored for office ; we have never had any difficulty in se- 
curing a fair division of the offices among all classes. And of 
the county offices the native whites have always held the larger 
share. We have had few Northern men in office in that 
county, less than of the Southern whites; nor do I believe col- 
ored men are cowardly. They are unused to guerrilla warfare. 
I know they are not cowards. They are cautions and too 
intelligent to be drawn into a conflict in which they must 
necessarily be the only sufferers, I am speaking from an 
experience of years. I have seen them tried. They will 
fight for their rights and liberties, if they have anything to 
fight with." I here solemnly repeat that testimony. 

Major W. D. Gibbs, Judge W. S. Epperson, the editor of 
the Herald and many more of the " best citizens " of Yazoo 
were before that committee at the same time, or subse- 
quently, and if it had been possible for any of them to have 
produced any evidence at all against me, they would have 



ON THE PICKET LINE OF FREEDOM. 509 

•done it then and there. Every one of them under oatli 
denied that force had been resorted to to carry that election , 
and defended the character and standing of Mr. Dixon. 

Senator Bayard, of Delaware, was present on that occa- 
sion, and in the coarse of his examination of me, referred to 
that indictment as though he would make it appear that the 
cause of the enemy's hostility to me was their belief that I 
had wantonly killed Mr. Hilliard. 

I have not failed from the day the first shot was fired in 
■fhe campaign of 1875, both in Mississippi, at Washington, 
and wherever I have travelled, to tell the truth about the 
methods of the enemy in Mississippi elections, and when I 
could with propriety, have sought the privilege of doing so. 
If this be " secretive silence," then th3 enemy are at liberty 
to make the most of it. 

xTot withstanding this "secretive silence," and notwith- 
standing the fact that this H.irald letter was published three 
months ago, if, before or since that time any order or reqai- 
sition has been issued for my arrest, by anybody, I have not 
'oeen informed of it. Perhaps the conspirators are waiting 
for the book before drawing; the fauiC-s. 

General Greenieaf, our Republican magistrate, Mr. Foote, 
and Charles are dead. The reader knows already how all, 
except Charles, died. The only one who died by violence 
was Mr. Foote. Charles conld not get away from that " won- 
erful country." Having withdrawn from leadership in poli- 
tics, he was permitted to pursue, in Washington County, his 
•" designs upon the country" in paace. When the great fever 
epidemic that devastated Greenville first appeared in the 
State, he was absorbed with the managament of his lucrative 
business. He had passed safely through previous fever epi- 
demics ; he believed he could withstand this one. At all events 
he would not run away. So, while his wife and all the chil- 
dren had the fever and recovered, he died there. Sister Myra 
wrote me all the terrible details. One ray of comfort re- 
mained. 



510 YAZOOj OR, 

The enemy at last became reconciled to him^ and on the 
last terrible night (so sister Myra wrote), all night long the 
voices of the colored people gathered at the little '' uigro 
church " he helped to build there, were raised to God in 
prayer for him. The first I knew of it I read his name in the 
long list of the dead which, so soon as communication could 
be opened with the town, was published in the New York 
Herald. 

Wife ! There are those who do not know the meaning of 
the word. She who wins the love of one brave, honest man, 
and marries him, in this country ought to be, and of right, 
is, a royal consort, a queen, the equal of a sovereign, free 
man. 

"But the American people are not yet prepared to approve^ 
of the intermarriage of blacks and whites." 

I submit that the American people are always prepared 
to do right when once it clearly appears. I speak plainly?- 
as it is my right and my duty to do. I have made the sub- 
ject a special study for years, and I state as the result of my 
observation and experience that I firmly believe the institu- 
tion of concubinage^.universally prevailing at the South has- 
already so corrupted their physical bodies, so dwarfed their 
intellects, and so dulled the moral perceptions of the 
people that it is£matter of very grave doubt with me 
whether the'^social body has not already become so infected 
with this form[|^of miscegenation as to exclude all hope of its 
ability to expel the virus without prompt and skillful aid from 
without. I also^firmly believe that this condition is due to 
that policy which perpetuates by force the subjection of every 
individual, male and female, of the weaker race, to the will 
of the stronger; a policy which creates such a temptation to 
prey upon the weaker, male and female, as the stronger is 
unable to resist. 

And, as to amalgamation : were there neither law nor 
custom against it, not one in ten thousand of the present gen- 



ON THE TICKET LINE 0^ FREEDOM. 511 

eration, of either race, would intermarrj with the other. 
But the undisputed right to do so by such as might desire 
to would remove not only the fact but the badge of infe- 
riority as between those two, and would elevate womanhood, 
whether covered by a light or a dark skin, unto more perfect 
self-control and, per consequence, into the realm of account- 
abihty. 

" Would you have me marry my daughter to a negro ? " 

What a sillv question ! How unworthy a thinking, prac- 
tical Yankee ! No ! I would not have you do any such thing. 
But, since you have asked the question, I will venture to say 
that I would greatly prefer that you should marry your 
daughter to a negro than that you should consent that she 
be the mistress of one. 

How dare I talk that way ? How dare you consent, as 
you have been doing for two centuries, that every woman of 
African blood shall not hope for a higher life ? How dare 
you consent, as you have been doing for two centuries, that 
while your daughter may not marry a " nigger," nor yet be 
the mistress of one, your son may make my daughter his con- 
cubine, though he shall not marry her ? 

I have never denied nor been ashamed of the fact that my 
wife and my children have in their veins negro blood ; " nigro 
taint"' is the enemy's phrase. The only thing about it which 
grieves me, is the fact that so many of our good girls 
and boys can see no difference between miscegenation as 
practiced at the South, and amalgamation through honorable 
marriage, or, seeing the true distinction, nevertheless prefer 
and honor the miscegenationist above the amalgamationist. 

Wife and I have been married fourteen years ; we have 
six children. During all the dreary years that have passed 
since the enemy, by force and murder, took possession of my 
new licld, stole our grand old flag from us, and occupied our 
temples, this woman and these children have been my refuge. 

The world moves, though Yazoo may remain a dead 
sea. History has changed the meaning of fame. Formerly 



512 ''ZOO; OR, 

it was a report, now it is a judgment. It will not always 
be true that " the heart which responds to the call of duty 
finds no rest except in the grave." Have patience — wait. 
The forty years in the wilderness are passing away. 

Some day the telegraph, the telephone and the printing 
press will assemble the w^orld in one congregation, and teach- 
ers will appear to instruct all in the language and justice of 
truth. 



II 



